Dangan Ronpa: Gender Bender Edition
by Monokub
Summary: Ever wonder what the Mutual Killing games would be like if just ONE character happened to have a different gender? Ever wonder how the story would play out if that Gender-swapped character happened to be Makoto Naegi himself- or perhaps, Herself! Dive in to an alternate take on Dangan Ronpa, with new murders, new victims, and new interesting twists! Reviews equal bonuses! Sum yuri
1. Last night of Peace

A/N: I'd like to remind everyone this is taking place from Klonoa's 6th chapter and branching off into my own version. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I "want" to copy his/hers right off the back like that, but to be honest, the way he/she started hers off from the first trial is perfect, and i can't really think of a different way to begin other than that. If i have time in the future, I might edit the chapters and redo the beginning and add my own chapters to it, but until then, I'll be continuing from where it left off. Again, this is inspired by Klonoa's Fem-Naegi FF. Hope it's just as good and that you all enjoy it ^^!

"T-Thanks for letting me sleep with you, Naegi-kun..." Fujisaki stuttered, sitting on the bed. This would be the second night Naegi spent with Fujisaki, except this time they were sleeping within Naegi's room, not the other way around.

"It's alright, Fujisaki-san," Naegi smiled, "with all that's been going on lately, I don't mind the company. But what were you so upset about?"

"Oh...emm..." Fujisaki teared up again lowering her head. "I-It's nothing...I just...mmh..." Tears started rolling down her face as her lips quivered.

"H-Hey, it's alright, you don't have to talk about it!" Naegi quickly stated, waving her hands worriedly. With all the problems that have been going on, the last thing she could handle was being the one to make her friends cry.

"I-I'm sorry..." Fujisaki sniffed. "I-I wish I was strong...like you..." Naegi blinked.

"Like me?"

"Y-Yeah...I like how despite all you've gone through, you're still able to press on and all...I really admire that."

"Oh...! Umm...T-Thanks." Naegi replied with a small blush as she scratched the back of her head. "B-But I'm not as strong as you'd think, Fujisaki-san. In fact, sometimes I wish I was strong like you." Fujisaki's eyes widened. Never once in her life had anyone ever told her something some heartfelt.

"L-Like me?"

"Well...yeah. I mean," Naegi looked down, slightly saddened by the memories that came flooding back to her with each thought, "for one, after Kuwata's death, I practically spilled my entire breakfast on the floor in front of everyone." She looked back with fearful eyes. "A-And I can't even go back into the bathroom anymore without seeing..."

Naegi started squeezing her head where her eyes were as the frustration built up. No matter how hard she attempted to stop it, nothing could stop the small stream of tears that began rolling down her face. With all that's happened within the small several days alone at this school, for simply one of the students to bear with all of it on their own, it's a wonder her own sanity hadn't completely shattered. The loss of her friends were dear to her, actually more so after realizing Maizono simply used her.

Not only that, but the pain and trauma it brought to Naegi was unbearable. Her stomach lurched at the mere thought of remembering how Maizono's body even looked when she last saw it. She nearly gagged at the feeling of how the knife must've even felt in her stomach like that!

It is not something one should have to go through in one's life, at least not at such a young age.

"I... I honestly don't know how to deal with this... I-I mean if something happened to anyone else...If a friend like you died next..." Naegi couldn't even bring herself to finish a sentence as she hiccupped. She felt herself tensing up briefly before easing herself as she felt Fujisaki hold her hands.

"N-Naegi-kun...I...Let's make a promise." she said with a warming smile. If you had saw her earlier, you would not think this suddenly-heartwarming girl was the same one who entered Naegi's bedroom with tears on her cheek. "Let's both make a promise, that no matter what happens, we'll both get out of here together!" Naegi's heart almost warmed up immediately as she sniffed.

"Mmh...O-Ok. It's a promise!" She cheered.

All these emotions filling Fujisaki were ones she never experienced in life before. For the first time, she felt like she had someone who actually looked up to HER, and not the other way around. It was as if she had met someone actually weaker than her, that looked up to her for guidance. That sense of being needed and relied upon gave her something she hadn't experienced in a long time- strength. And courage...

"Hey, I know it's late, but I'm a bit hungry. Why don't I head to the cafeteria and pick us up a small snack before bed?" Naegi suggested.

"Ok!" Fujisaki nodded. "Do you want me to come with or-?"

"No, it's ok." Naegi denied her offer as she stood up from her bed. "You already helped me enough by just talking to me. Now it's my turn, so I'll be back in a few minutes."

...

...

As expected, the emptied hallways were all but quiet. There wasn't a single noise to be heard as she walked her way to the lunchroom. Although the small pep talk she had with Fujisaki a few moments ago eased her up, there was still the unsettling nature that was brought about when one entered a silent room in a school where people were forced to kill each other.

But even that silence didn't last for long, which Naegi actually started wishing for again.

She was unprepared for the ticking time bomb that had already gone off in the lunchroom as she entered. From two people alone, the room was filled with nothing but shouting and screaming at each other. It was enough to startle Naegi's heart and sense of fear again as she felt the pure rage and anger coming off from the two students currently going off on one another without end. And their hardened glare was enough to make her heart sink, even though she knew the rage wasn't directed at her.

"Excellent timing, Naegi-kun!" Ishimaru shouted with his usual authority.

"W-Wait, what? What for?" Naegi asked.

"Naegi-kun! I got a favor to ask ya!" Oowada grunted squeezing his fist.

"_I don' like how this is going..._" Naegi gulped slightly.

"Yo, Naegi... We need a witness." Oowada stated.

"Huh? A witness?" Naegi raised her brow.

"This little bitch here is running his mouth, sayin' shit like I need to grow a pair..." Oowada huffed.

Ishimaru kept his strict demeanor as he crossed his arms. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be so quick to resort to violence!" He pointed to Oowada accusingly. "If you didn't, you wouldn't ignore our society's rules and go riding around in your little biker gang!"

"What...did you say?" Oowada squeezed his fist as he lowered his head. "What the hell... do you know...?"

"You have long since been defeated by yourself!" Ishimaru deemed. "If you really had pair, you would readily admit that!"

Oowada's face tightened. "So, what, are you saying you got bigger balls than me?!" Oowada brought his face down to Ishimaru's.

"Damn straight! Even Naegi-kun has a bigger pair than you do-!" He turned back with a vacant expression. "Err...eh...No offense..." He quickly added before focusing his attention back to Oowada.

"N-None...taken..." Naegi mumbled with a slight blush.

If one's aura could kill someone, everyone else in this school would be dead by now by the amount of rage Ishimaru and Oowada's aura was giving off. She could virtually see the sparks coming off each others' eyes as they glared intently on one another. It took all her strength alone to push each other back to distance themselves a few feet, feeling like super magnets that were pulled towards one another.

"Would you two quit fi-" Naegi tried to intervene.

"Then we'll have a contest... If you say you've got bigger balls, then **show me what you've got!**" Oowada declared.

"As you wish!" Ishimaru proudly agreed. The both of them turned their gaze towards Naegi, causing a small bead of sweat to drip from the back of her head.

"And that's where you come in, Naegi! You're the neutral witness!" Oowada added.

When you had two of the most seemingly-aggressive people looming over you, you couldn't help but feel small...

"When you s-say "contest"... you're not going to, like, fight each other, are you?"

"You know the bath just across from here? There's a sauna in there too..."

"I see," Ishimaru nodded, "simple and decisive. Whoever can handle staying in the sauna the longest is the winner!"

"You fuckin' got it, bitch!" Oowada roared.

...

...

The public bath. Just the same as Naegi left it a few hours ago. Even when it was not being used, there was always a radiance of steam enveloping the room, only now it felt twice as hot with the two raging spirits that were present within this room.

"Are you really going to do this?" Naegi asked slightly worried.

"Fuck ya we are!" Oowada assured.

"You aren't going to last more than a few minutes! Everyone knows people like you are just talk!" Ishimaru insulted.

Oowada cracked his knuckles in a way that sent chills down Naegi's spine. "Oooh, you are just **asking** for it! Fine, take a handicap! Not much fun if I don't give you a fighting chance!"

"Handicap?" Naegi asked.

"I'll go in with my clothes on!" He explained.

For once, even Ishimaru's expression changed into a mix of worry and fear.

"N-No way!" Ishimaru stuttered. "That's **suicide**!"

"What? Chickening out?" Oowada taunted. Ishimaru squeezed his fist with tears, anger, and pride as he bit his lip.

"You'll... regret this!"

"Shaddup! Let's do this!"

Once again, even after being spread a few feet away from each other, the sparks continued to bounce off one another's eyes.

If one had failed to see the aura permeating from these two before, it only became more noticeable once these two had entered the Sauna. Ishimaru, who apologized before hand for undressing in front of Naegi, having briefly forgotten about Naegi's gender once again, sat next to Oowada with a determined expression upon his face; one that read "I will win!". Draped in only a towel covering his lower region, he looked as if he was channeling all his focus into maintaining his stamina so as to not lose his focus.

As for Oowada, true to his word, he had gone in fully clothed in his biker outfit, his towel being hung from his pointy hair, shouting in rage as he gathered the energy he needed to sustain such composure. Both of these unearthly combatants never so much as blinked, shouting with such ferocity as if it would keep them going.

"O-Oowada..." Ishimaru grunted, not seeming phased by the current scenario.

"What do you want?" Oowada grumbled.

"If you want, you can take off your uniform... and I'll let you off with just a chuckle..." Ishimaru offered, already growing a smirk.

"How about you worry about you and let me deal with me?" Oowada retorted. "Your face is bright red... You look like a baboon's ass!"

"My face... is naturally red." Ishimaru huffed.

Naegi couldn't help biting her lip. If this was truly the way they would settle things once and for all, then she was all for it. But she couldn't stand the idea if one of them could possibly end up dead from this.

"Are you guys alright in there?" She asked.

But they paid her no attention. They were too focused on victory.

And so she waited a few minutes...

Then ten minutes...

Before she knew it, a full hour had gone by.

She started to wonder if they were even still alive, or if they died frozen in place.

Ishimaru was letting out shallow breaths at this point. "D-don't you hink...it's about hime... you gave fup?"

There wasn't an ounce of water on Ishimaru's dried tongue- perhaps in his entire body!

"You can't... even talk right anymore..." Oowada replied. Despite being able to form complete words, he didn't sound too much better than Ishimaru in his raspy voice.

"Wh-Whah are you halking abouh? I'm jush fine. Ahually... I'm sharhing hoo feel kinha... cold..."

"Umm...g-guys? Don't you think this has gone on long enough? I mean you don't have to prove any-"

"**BE QUIET!**" Ishimaru and Oowada said in unison, both focus intently on the "match". At least they had enough endurance to show some respect to a girl and not telling her to "shut up" or something.

"_At this point, at least whatever happens isn't on me._"

**Diiing dooong...**

**diiiing doooong...**

Naegi looked up to the monitors as the announcement began to play.

"_**Ahem, may I have your attention please? The time is now 10:00 P.M. Night Time is now in effect! The cafeteria is now off-limits, and the doors will be locked momentarily. And with that, I wish you all a good night. Sweet dreams...**_". Monokuma announced.

Naegi sighed.

"Aww man, and I never even managed to get a sna-!" Her eyes widened with worry. "Oh crap! I forgot about Fujisaki!" She remembered with worry. "Hey guys! I need to go now so..."

"O-Oh y-yeah..." Oowada began while gasping for air. "Y-You can go on... back to your room... I-I'll tell you...about my stunning victory...tomorrow...You and your kids will...be telling stories about me for years..."

"Heth righ'..." Ishimaru slurred. "Go on bah...I'll hell thoo...about how he an ouuth... c'yin'...in defesh..."

"F-Fat... chance..."

Naegi could only shake her head in disapproval as the two continued their "contest" while she left. All she knew at this point is that even if they did die, they wouldn't be coming out of that room until one of them achieved victory. Right now though, her current thoughts were hurrying back to her own room.

She couldn't believe she completely forgot Fujisaki for the last hour that she was stuck with the other two. She was currently angry, both at herself for forgetting such an important detail, and the other two for their stupid contest. She knew she didn't have the right to fully blame them, but it still would've kept her from forgetting such an important thing.

Things only turned more sour for Naegi as she saw Fujisaki walking down the hall, sniffling as she rubbed her eyes from the tears. Naegi could only groan as she quickly ran up to her, holding her calmly by the shoulders.

"Fujisaki-san! I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry!" She whined. "I didn't mean to forget and abandon you! I-I just got caught up in something stupid a-and lost track of time and-!"

"N-No!" Fujisaki cut her off, wiping her nose slightly. "It's not that," she replied, "i-it's just..." She sniffled again as she wiped the tears from her eyes so she could speak with more ease. "F-Fukawa needed me for something, a-a-and...a-and...!" Fujisaki began tearing up again.

"What? Did she hurt you or something?!" Naegi asked worriedly.

She knew Fukawa wasn't completely "dangerous", but with someone who would snap at her just for wanting to be friends earlier, Naegi knew she was also unpredictable.

"N-No...I..." Fujisaki rubbed her eyes, this time from the lack of energy that sleep began pulling on the two of them. "I'd just like to go to bed... if that's ok with you..."

"Of course," Naegi nodded with a sincere smile, "we could both use some shut eye."

Fujisaki's smile showed that she agreed.

Even without food for the night, at least the two managed to have a somewhat peaceful sleep.

...

...

A sleep that managed to even let them snooze through the morning announcements for that matter. For once, Naegi appeared to have a content smile on her face, still drifting in slumber after all of yesterday's actions. It helped that she had Fujisaki to sleep with. She couldn't ask for a more understanding friend than her to keep her company, and-

"Ack!" Fujisaki suddenly screeched flailing. The sudden flail ended up accidentally smacking Naegi on the forehead, causing a chain reaction which ended up with causing her to literally jump and fall off the side of her bed.

**Thud!**

"Ouch!" Naegi yelped, rubbing the back of her head in pain. She shook her head to help wake herself up more, rubbing her eyes as she looked around.

"What happened?" She asked, seeing if anything around her could cause such a sudden freight.

Looking back at Fujisaki, she noticed she had half her face from her nose to the rest of the body down covered in the blanket. From what little she could see, she had a slight blush on her face. And she was shaking just slightly.

"O-O-Oh! U-Um... I-I-I'm s-sorry!" Fujisaki stuttered turning away. "I-I just woke up a few minutes ago, b-but I was still sleepy s-so I tried getting back to sleep. B-But while I d-did, I f-f-felt your knee...a-and it was rubbing against...mmh..." She couldn't even bring herself to finish her sentence as her face turned red.

It took Naegi five full seconds to understand what caused her to freak out so much and make her own face beat red.

"O-Oh!" She bit her lip. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!"

"I-It's ok, i-it just startled me to be honest... I'm sorry I hit you on the head, Naegi-kun..." Fujisaki apologized.

"N-No, it's alright." Naegi smiled. Fujisaki was always sweet enough to apologize to someone else, even if she ended up hurting someone first. "I-I'm sorry for my leg and all..."

She chuckled nervously with a slight blush.

"It's alright..." Fujisaki meeped.

"A-At least we're both girls, huh? It would've been a bit awkward otherwise he heh..." Naegi chuckled, trying to ease the mood.

For some strange reason this only caused Fujisaki's blush to brighten, but Naegi simply ignored it.

"Y-Yeah...good thing."

...

...

The rest of the day played out rather strangely for the rest of the day. For starters, Naegi discovered that Oowada and Ishimaru's contest from last night apparently worked a little "too well" from the looks of it. They were laughing alongside each other and agreeing on every little thing like a couple of brothers. It was a bit confusing, to say the least, how they went from full-fledged raging enemies to best bros in a manner of hours, but Naegi, Oogami, and Asahina agreed to one thing; unlike women, men had a rather simplistic relationship.

Despite what little positive outlook the morning had, Monokuma took the opportunity to turn it all around. That same morning, he had everyone gather in the Gymnasium for a morning meeting. And much like experienced earlier, it was with another motive for the next murder.

This time, apparently, it was everyone's embarrassing and/or shameful secrets. Naegi couldn't believe what she was seeing, labeled in pure black bold writing was her most dreaded secret: **Naegi wet the bed until she was in the 5th grade**.

It wasn't enough for Monokuma to just give everyone a letter containing their own dreaded secret- he proclaimed if no one committed another murder within the next 24 hours, he would release this information worldwide. Naturally everyone was devastated by this. Much to Naegi's surprise, Fujisaki was especially.

She knew Fujisaki was a timid and quiet person, yet even she didn't think Fujisaki had a secret so horrible that she couldn't at least talk to Naegi about it. All Fujisaki told her was that she had to make sure she herself got stronger, no matter what. Even then, no one else was fairing better. They were all timid and shocked by the numerous secrets presented among them.

Sadly, none of them were even willing to cooperate with Ishimaru when he made a rather interesting suggestion; to confess their secrets to one another, right now. Naegi personally thought it was a good idea, but at the same time, she didn't want to be the one to confess something so embarrassing (especially with everything else stressing her out right now).

Thus left her with the dilemma of what to do now. She had hoped a day would go by without having to worry. If she was lucky, maybe no one would die by tomorrow, and she could retain some dignity if anyone else had a more embarrassing secret than her. But at the moment, she only thought of Fujisaki's parting words before leaving for the day about getting stronger.

With those words in mind, she only had one thing she could think of doing...

...

...

Naegi's face was flushed as she panted heavily.

"Huff...Huff...this is...exhausting..." Naegi groaned.

"C'mon, you can do it. Just a little more." Oogami cheered.

"I can't...I'm already out of breath..."

"Don't focus on your breath, just let your body do the work." Oogami continued. Naegi sighed again before nodding.

"Ok..." She closed her eyes again as she grunted, pushing herself the best she could. "Seventy-three... S-Seventy-four...Seeveentyy...Fi-!"

*crick*

"Ouch!" Naegi yelped. The iron bars slipped from her hands as she jerked ever slightly.

"Naegi!" Oogami panicked, quickly grabbing the sixty lb. iron bar with one hand before it could fall on Naegi.

For a brief moment, Naegi's heart raced in panic for the few seconds she saw the weight fall towards her. She let out a sigh of great relief though once she realized it stayed safely in place in Oogami's hand. With a simple nod, Oogami rested it back in place on top of the Weight Bench.

Naegi breathed deeply again once she managed to sit back up. She moved her shoulder slightly, wincing at the pain it brought when she did.

"I think I pulled something..." She moaned, rubbing her sore shoulder.

"Would you like me to escort you to your room?" Oogami asked. "It's not best to strain your self to the point of physical exhaustion like that." Naegi shook her head.

"No, it's ok," she smiled back, "thanks anyway for helping me with today's training, Sakura-chan." She finished off what was left of her water bottle.

"Anytime, Naegi-kun." Oogami smiled. "Though, to be honest, I'm surprised when you asked me to help you exercise this evening." She commented. Naegi rubbed her shoulder as she stood up to stretch.

"Yeah, well," she paused as she breathed out once more from stretching, "I kind of got the idea from Fujisaki to be honest. I mean, I don't really know what happened to her, but after today's meeting, she told me how she wanted to become stronger herself." She turned back to Sakura. "I kind of respected that, and I wanna follow her example."

Oogami nodded in agreement. "It's always grand to train to better one's self. But you should still be making sure you don't push yourself too hard." She reminded. Naegi chuckled scratching her cheek.

"Y-Yeah... Sorry. I'll remember that for next time." She promised before rubbing her sore shoulder again. But I think I'll take it easy for tomorrow then. My shoulder's really sore from that."

"In that case, why don't we train again a few days from now after you rest?"

"Sure! I can handle that." Naegi said as she started putting away the other weights.

"Do you want help cleaning up?" Oogami asked, still worried for her friend's physical condition.

"Nah, it's ok. Even with this, my other arm's still good enough to clean up around here. Besides, you helped me enough with the training for the last 2 hours."

"Only if you're sure then. Be sure to get plenty of rest tonight." Oogami commented as she began walking away.

"I will. Thanks again for the help, Sakura-chan." Naegi thanked with a wave. Oogami smiled as she waved back, the automatic doors closing behind her.

Naegi let out a quick breath as she began cleaning up. She found herself fortunate enough when Sakura agreed to work out with her for the night. She wouldn't have minded asking Asahina for help, but given Oogami's muscles, as well as title of the Ultimate Fighter, she believed she could expect better results in the process.

It didn't matter if she wanted to train with Asahina either way. Asahina's idea of a workout involved swimming laps endlessly around the pool. Even if she wanted to work out by swimming around, she still didn't have a single bathing suit on hand. She was lucky enough to find some extra gym clothes in the storage room on the second floor.

It still would've been nice of Asahina had joined them of course, but Naegi didn't mind. She would have to get used to the quiet ambience like the one the room currently gave her. If she was going to devote her time to training like this, she could expect being alone like this more often, not counting Sakura's occasional company.

"_I wonder why Fujisaki never showed up today?_" Naegi pondered to herself, pausing in thought. She did admit it was sort of weird. She knows Fujisaki planned on getting stronger and must have some plan in doing so. What she couldn't determine was how she would get stronger if it didn't involve coming to the Weight room.

She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't realize her sore arm losing grip of the current weight until it slipped out of her hands.

"Wah-!" She yelped quickly backing away.

*THUNK*

She sighed in relief as her foot barely missed the ten lb. weight that dropped out of her hand. But what did startle her was the pounding she heard coming from the door suddenly. She quickly opened the door to see Oowada standing outside the room.

"Oowada?" Naegi blinked curiously.

"Hey Naegi-kun, everything alright?" He asked, looking inside the room. "I heard something loud banging in here."

"Oh t-that!" Naegi waved her hands dismissively. "Sorry, that was my fault. I accidentally dropped a weight when I was cleaning up." Oowada looked at her in surprise.

"Wait, you're working out in the weight room?" He asked.

"Yeah...why?" Naegi tilted his head. Oowada grew a small grin as he rubbed his head.

"Heh, oh nothin'. I'm just surprised how much you're like Fujisaki..." He commented. Naegi blinked at the statement.

"Wait, Fujisaki asked you to train her? Where is she?" She asked. Much to her surprise Oowada's expression briefly changed to panic before shaking his head.

"Eh- N-No! I don't mean like here or anything! I just meant-! Ehh...You know, the basic stuff outside the Weight room..." He quickly replied. Naegi couldn't help but feel like he replied a little too abruptly, but decided to pass it off.

"Basic stuff?"

"Y-Yeah, you know! She wanted to take it easy and do the basics first! You know, like push ups, sits, a little jogging...That sorta thing." He explained.

"Oh! Well sorry again for making you worry like that." Naegi apologized again. Oowada just chuckled a bit as he patted her head.

"Heh heh, na, forget about it. You just take care of yourself." He told her as he began walking off. He stopped suddenly after only taking a couple steps. "Oh and...Thanks..." Naegi blinked.

"Thanks?" She asked confused. "Thanks for what?"

"Meh... I'll explain tomorrow. Have a good night..." He said before walking off.

Naegi shrugged to herself before returning to clean the weight room. She always found Oodwada to be a rather curious sort. He was quick to temper, a factor she found out on her first day there, but he also had a sense of pride and decency. Naegi had a good assertion that with people like Oowada around, she could count on them to prevent more murders.

That was the one thing she wanted the most out of all of this- for all the murders to end. She couldn't stand the thought of something happening to anyone after the trauma she suffered from Maizono's death. The last thing she even wanted to consider was the death of another close friend like Fujisaki, that would make her lose it.

...

...

With a steady sigh, she rubbed her sore shoulder again as she finally finished cleaning the place. It wasn't that it was dirty or anything, but at Oogami's suggestion, they didn't bother putting the weights away so they could move on to the next exercise without pause to keep herself going. She had to admit, though, with a sore shoulder, it did surprisingly take longer. At least five to ten minutes.

"**Gyaaak**-!"

The sudden bloodcurdling scream caused Naegi to jump. She was more surprised someone was still roaming around this time of night compared to actually hearing anyone at all. From the sound of it, it did at least sound like a guy, so whatever the case, she was at least safe inside the room.

But she was too filled with curiosity...and worry.

"H-Hello?" She called out, steadily easing toward the door. She flinched at the sudden sound of shuffling, but heard nothing more soon after.

"Hello? Is someone out there?" She slowly opened the door to the outside of the weight room. Much to her surprise, she couldn't see a thing as she stepped out.

It was barren, lifeless. It didn't have a soul within the room.

That's what she kept thinking until her foot brushed against something. And looking down, only a sense of dread and fear filled her body. She felt paralyzed as a scream was slowly crawling out from her throat.

"A...a...ahh...**AH**-!"

***WHACK**!*

And just like that, her eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head as she suddenly felt all sense of feeling leave her body, being replaced only by darkness...

...

...

"This is unacceptable! Where is Naegi-Sensei? She's half an hour late for our morning meeting!" Ishimaru declared, slamming his hand on the cafeteria table.

"Ah relax," Oowada replied, chewing on a toothpick, "I saw her last night cleaning up the weight room. I'm sure she's just still resting."

"B-But when I went over to her room to see her this morning, she didn't answer..." Fujisaki added with worry.

"She hurt her shoulder when she lifted weights the other day." Oogami commented. "Perhaps Oowada-kun's explanation isn't too far off."

"Besides dude," Hagakura added, "with all that's been happenin' with that girl, I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted some time to herself.

Kirigiri rubbed her chin thinking.

"Something wrong, Kirigiri-san?" Asahina asked, noticing her strange demeanor.

"Something feels...off..." She commented quietly.

"Off?" Asahina blinked. "What do you-"

"**Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh**!" The suddenly blood-filled scream startled everyone at once.

Kirigiri began feeling a slight pang in her heart, absolutely knowing something was wrong.

"W-What the hell was that?!" Hagakura stammered.

"I think it was Fukawa-san, but it didn't sound all too close." Celes suggested as she still sipped her tea nonchalantly.

"Well what the fuck are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Oowada shouted, already bolting towards the door.

"Wait!" Kirigiri demanded. Oowada looked back. "You and Oogami said you two saw Naegi-kun last night, correct?"

"Yeah...?" Oowada replied, unsure what Kirigiri was getting at.

"Then you two check up on her room. Everyone else look for Fukawa." She stated. Everyone else exchanged glances with one another but quickly did as they were told.

When you hear someone scream their lungs out, you don't really have time to sit around and talk about it, you need to take action. Everyone was scattered across the entire school as they searched.

Hagakura, Asahina, Ishimaru, and Kirigiri were scanning the fist floor. Celes, Yamada, and Fujisaki were exploring the second. Like they were told, Oowada and Oogami made their way to Naegi's room, trying to get a hold of her.

About several minutes, an all too familiar tune played over the announcements.

**Ding dong, ding dong!**

"**_We got a corpse here! We'll be holding a Class Trial pretty soon, so make good use of the time you've got!_**_" _

Those were the only sounds you didn't want to hear when in the middle of a missing person's case. Kirigiri and her group were greeted by Fujisaki running down the hallway exhausted.

"G-Guys! F-Fukawa! We found her in the Library, b-but..." Fujisaki bent over as she continued to catch her breath.

Asahina patted her shoulder worriedly.

"What's wrong, Fujisaki-san?" She asked. Kirigiri took initiative and rushed to the Library herself.

...

What awaited her was truly a sight to be held. Celes was trying to wake up a currently passed-out Fukawa, who looked as if she had seen a ghost. At the same time, Yamada appeared to be wiping the downpour of sweat with the rag he always had on hand. The three of them were all waiting outside the Library it seems.

"What happened?" Kirigiri asked Yamada since Celes was busy with Fukawa.

Yamada took a deep breath before looking back. "I-I...I think it's best if you saw for yourself." Yamada suggested.

With that, Kirigiri slowly opened the door to the Library, and was greeted with the nightmare that slowly unfolded.

There, in the chair, laid the dead corpse of one of their former classmates. In his chest was a pair of sharpened cheers, which mostly likely pierced his heart from Kirigiri's standpoint. In each of his hands were an additional pair of scissors which continued to drip blood from the opening they both caused. And written in blood, upon the chest of this fallen comrade, were the words "**Bloodbath Fever**".

The corpse, which had the still scared expression on it's face as when it died remained in tact, with dried blood which likely trickled from it's mouth.

It was Togami's dead body.

Even Kirigiri herself was at a loss for words.

"W-What? Togami's...dead?" She asked aloud, already knowing the answer.

"Hey, Kirigiri!" Oowada was heard shouting. Kirigiri quickly looked to see him and Oogami running down the hall to them. "We got a prob'."

"We can't find Naegi-kun anywhere!" Oogami stated, squeezing her fist in anger.

"Yeah, we-" Oowada paused looking around. "Hey, what's going on here?" He asked before seeing the corpse on the chair in the Library. "Holy shit! Is that Togami?!"

Kyoko ignored the current curse of words as she was trying to get her mind straight.

First Naegi-kun goes missing, and now Togami ends up dead.

What was going on?!

A/N: Hoofta! Ok, seems like a good spot to stop there. I know it's short, but it's my first time doing a reverse-gender type fanfic. Anyway, I want your guys' input on things, like the story and all.

1, do you want me to present the whole story as if in the game like I did with the Sauna scene, or do you only want me to describe in detail like I did with the following morning, and simply add scenes that have changed due to Naegi's sudden reversal here? Your calls.

2, holy crap Togami's dead! Yesss! Hallelujah-! Err I mean...oh how...terri...ok seriously how can ANYONE like togami?! Even for a dick-like/stern character, he's WAY beyond liking in my opinion X/ hard to believe there's ANY fans of him at all! But as you've seen, like Naegi's reversal, my fanfic gives a sudden new twist on the story itself! You'd be surprised how one gender and character can dramatically change the face of a story :/!

3, once again, I'd like to give a big shout out to Klonoadreams, the original author of this series. he only posts on a monthly basis from what I've seen, but I particularly love his current DGR work ^^ Please support both our works, and, on a personal note, thanks again Klonoa for being a big inspiration ^^

4, also I have a question about the whole use of the end phrases of names like "Naegi-kun", and "Fujisaki-san"- can anyone tell me how that works? Like is there a certain "rule" or whatever when adding suffixes to a person's name? I don't know how that works so any news on that would be appreciated!

As a final note, I might add some extra scenes to pass the time and keep fans from growing board, but if you wish to see a scene/scenario (even if only an extra scene or idea), be sure to leave a like and review. And lemme know if you're ok with the size of this or would still prefer more like my other fanfic!


	2. Murders and revelations! Trial 2 P1!

Update Note 9/16/2014: Just an update to show off my awesome Fem Naegi pic, created and provided by the Generosity of iReizero from Deviant art ^^ Personally I think it looks awesome + cute ^^ So here's a big shout out and thanks to iRei! See with her, i did the thing I forgot to do with the other- I actually waited UNTIL i got a response and not before XP (once again, sorry Klonoa XP)

A/N: Hewfta! I gotta admit, I'm actually having surprising fun writing this series so far :P Also, I'd like to deeply thank Klonoa for being a god and honest sport about things X! To be honest, I got too ahead of myself and posted before she sent me the ok (In my defense...it was only a few hours ahead...and my psychic powers, which i TOTALLLY HAVE, told me she would say yes...no more questions).

I know I obviously got ahead of myself and posted before hand, but I'd like to thank him/her for accepting the apology. Wasn't intentional or anything. On that same note, we've discussed both our Fanfics to length, and I agreed to stop using honorifics (hence it stops completely partway through, maybe I'll do an occasional one since it sounds cute sometimes) at least until i get a better understanding of how the heck Honorifics work XP The only honorifics I know is Senpai, usually when you're referring to your peers, betters, some cases like in Persona 4, referring to someone older than you and all with respect.

That's all I learned from persona XD

anyway, leave a like, a fav, and a comment/review at the end to tell me what you think ^^ And please continue supporting both mine and Klonoadreams' fanfics (mostly theirs) as you enjoy the fanfic.

So...ENJOY!

...

...

"..."

"..."

"...Mhhh..."

Slowly, and weakly, the sense of feeling and life was beginning to return to Naegi. She couldn't tell what happened, only that an aching pain throbbed throughout her forehead. It wasn't the only thing she could feel either.

Her arms...her eyes...even her mouth and eyes. She felt constricted and restrained in all manner. Her wrists were tied tightly behind her back, provided that had any meaning to the bonds that kept her arms pinned to her side.

Her feet didn't feel any better either. From the bottom of her legs, her ankles were pinned tightly against one another. Unlike her arms, her legs were at least partially free, her bounds only securing her from the ankle. However, that seemed to matter little given her current status. Wherever she was, she felt cramped, as if stuffed into something.

"Mh...Mmhhhh!" She tried to scream for help with little use.

All of the things she could deal with, why this? She could handle the idea of the ropes. She couldn't move or struggle much with the ropes around her chest- her injured shoulder still preventing that. And she couldn't get her legs free, even if she could untangle the knot that kept her.

And she supposed, for whatever reason, her kidnapper decided to blindfold her. She supposed it was to prevent seeing something important. But for the love of GOD, the one feeling she couldn't handle was whatever she was nearly gagging on, her mouth stuffed with some strange fabric.

"_Socks? Underw-_" She froze with fear. "_God, let it be socks..._". All she could figure from this current point, that wherever she was, she wasn't getting out on her own.

There was one other factor, however, that brought worry to her.

"_How much air do I have in here?!_"

_..._

_..._

"Damn it!" Oogami shouted, banging her fists on the podium. "I knew I should've stayed with her!" Oogami squeezed her fist.

"It wasn't your fault, Sakura-chan!" Asahina tried to reassure. "It's the killer's!"

"Man, this is bullshit!" Oowada cursed, "Why the fuck do we have to go through this trial right now?" He cracked his knuckles. "Naegi-kun's in danger, and we have to go through this fucking trial still?!"

Monokuma could only laugh.

"Upupupu, isn't her talent as 'Good Luck' just sooooo ironic?" He joked.

His sense of humor fell on deaf ears to the multiple students around him. Right now, the only thing everyone cared about at this point was figuring out where Naegi-kun disappeared to...Well everyone except Fukawa. She had the same frozen expression on her face as when they found her.

Their reasons for wanting to find Naegi were different, though. Half of them were worried that she was taken somewhere by the killer, or perhaps even killed. The other half, however, were worried of the possibility that she herself WAS the killer and was hiding somewhere.

Kirigiri was one of the only few sensible ones to assume something happened to her...the only problem was what?

"Classmates, try to remember exactly what happened the day before!" Ishimaru commanded, never losing his composure. "Perhaps it will lead to Naegi-kun's whereabouts!"

"Actually let's focus on the killer for the time being." Kirigiri announced. There were many surprised looks directed at her.

"W-What?!" Hagakure stuttered. "Dude, you serious? We should be focused on Nag's safety first!"

"I humbly agree!" Ishimaru nodded. "Discussing the matter of Naegi's condition will ease everyone here for the trial."

Kyoko turned to him. "That's exactly why I want to discuss the killer instead." She stated. "Right now, the only thing we are sure of is that Naegi had some interaction with the killer, and is now missing. Discussing what the killer did during the murder may lead to finding her."

"But what if Naegi-kun turns out to be the killer herself?" Celes suggested tapping her chin. "Surely, that possibility never escaped your sight." Kirigiri returned the composed stare back to her.

"...Then it will still lead us to finding her. One way or another." She answered.

Everyone else lowered their head silently. Sadly enough, what Kirigiri said was true. If one way or another, she was right- if they wanted to find Naegi, they needed to find the killer first.

"Tch, fine. Killer first. Is there anything someone knows about the crime scene?" Oowada asked, willing to get straight to the point.

"Hmm, well it seems pretty clear and cut to me." Yamada commented, looking over the Monokuma file. "It said Togami was killed due to a direct strike to his heart, possibly from the scissors."

Hagakure crossed his arms as he raised his brow. "You say it like you're not one-hundred percent sure, man." Yamada pushed his glasses tighter to his face.

"Well, it is just a theory, but if there's one thing my time of video games and anime have taught me, is that the killer usually tries to rearrange the crime scene." This was followed by a moan. "Unfortunately, I can't tell what specifically was changed.

"W-Well what about the message on Togami's chest?" Fujisaki asked. "It looked like a message or something."

"**Boobalicious fever**?!" Yamada exclaimed.

"It said Bloodbath Fever, ya moron!" Asahina yelled angrily. "What does it mean anyway?"

"Perhaps the killer is trying to taunt us!" Ishimaru deemed. "He's trying to mock us by saying how we'll never reach him!"

"Hell ya, bro!" Oowada eagerly agreed. His eagerness was quickly turned to confusion as he crossed his arms. "But that doesn't explain exactly what it means. Like, what does the message ACTUALLY mean? Bloodbath Fever..." He pondered.

"Speaking of the murder," Asahina started, "don't you think the method was a little...overkill?"

All eyes turned to her.

"W-What do you mean by that?" Fujisaki asked.

"Well, think about it. I mean, I get the whole stabbing him in the chest thing, but why did the killer bother stabbing him in the hands too? It wouldn't be all that useful, would it?"

"Oooh...I see what you're sayin' there." Oowada added. "Why specifically did they leave two other scissors in his hands? It's like they were trying to leave a message or something..."

"A message...?" Yamada muttered.

"..."

"..."

"..."

And like that, the light bulb in his head finally went off. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Yamada suddenly screamed.

"Ahhh!" Hagakure screamed in fear. "What is it dude?!"

"I-I-I suddenly realized! It was a message!" Yamada exclaimed. Numerous beads of sweat dropped from the trial's participants' heads.

"We kinda already got that, man..." Hagakure commented.

"No no no, I don't mean like that!" Yamada shook his head. "I mean a message, message! The kind left behind by serial killer!"

That time eyes did light up in surprise.

"A s-s-serial k-killer?!" Fujisaki shivered with fear.

"Yes! It's like in all the shows and video games! The killer always takes something as a trophy or leaves some kind of signature behind to prove who their kill was!" Yamada explained.

"They only do that just to prove who their kill was?! That's demented!" Asahina stammered.

Yamada raised his finger as if confirming his own victory. "Oh ho ho! But such is the killer's sick mind! This is irrefutably left by-"

"Someone else." Kirigiri interrupted.

"Waaaaaah?!" Yamada complained. He groaned to himself as his one spark of victory was washed away, stolen by someone else.

"What makes you say that?" Asahina asked tapping her chin.

"It's just a simple accusation based on the current facts." Kirigiri stated. "A serial killer would leave a sign behind to mock us, they would either leave their signature or take something as a trophy, and the murder was preformed in a rather ritualistic style."

Hagakure scratched his head confused. "I can get the whole making something look original dude, but what makes you think it was left by someone else?"

"Because given our current situation, they're making their identity a little too obvious." Kirigiri began rubbing her chin. "It would be one thing to simply leave one piece of the killer's M.O. behind, but if they're cunning enough, they wouldn't be so foolish as to leave three of their own patterns at once."

"That's a rather interesting theory, Kirigiri," Celes commented while twirling her hair, "but what makes you think it wasn't just left behind by the killer? With their mind, they probably took something back with them like a trophy. That could also be a possibility, couldn't it?"

"I'd have to disagree with that, Celes." Oogami retorted. "I investigated the scenery with Ishimaru, but neither of us noticed anything missing."

"If the killer was the same menace to society as everyone thinks, there's no way they would've the crime scene in such an organized condition." Ishimaru added. "Togami must've died while still reading the files on his desk."

"..." There was an air of silence coming from Kirigiri, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Something on your mind, Kirigiri?" Asahina asked.

"Hmm...There is, but it's irrelevant for the time being." Kirigiri explained before looking back to Celes. "Is there any other thought you'd like to make, Celes?"

Now it was Celes' turn to remain silent for a few moments with her eyes closed.

"Before I reply, is everyone positive there wasn't anything stolen from the crime scene?" She asked aloud. There were numerous glances going back and forth to see if anyone shook their head or had a disagreement, but all expressions remained the same.

"In that case, then I'd like to inform you all some rather enlightening news." Celes smiled steadily.

"News?" Yamada repeated.

"I may have some insight then on who the ritualistic-killing belongs to." She revealed.

All eyes were focused on her now. This was the one piece of good information they've had since the trial began. It was one step closer to finding the killer, and possibly Naegi if they were lucky.

"What, you know who the killer is?!" Oowada exclaimed. "Then tell us who the hell it is !"

"Don't become to aggravated, Oowada." Celes calmly replied. "I only mean in terms of their title- I have yet to know who the killer's identity is."

"Aww c'mon man!" Hagakure complained.

"Quit your griping ya wuss," Oowada insulted, "it's at least better than no information at all."

"I-I'd have to agree." Fujisaki said quietly. "It's at least better than not knowing anything."

Hagakure sighed as he crossed his arms. "I know that dude, but would even knowing their title help? I mean even if there was a serial killer around us, who cares? Anyone could be a killer at some point in here dude."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments that followed. Most of the people were taken back by such a remark, others more surprised it came from Hagakure himself! But he did have a point to say the least. Even if one of their fellow classmates was a serial killer, that didn't seem to matter much when everyone here had the potential to be a killer.

Even with this, Celes maintained her same, basic, composure as she smiled.

"Hagakure, would you please shut the hell up for awhile?" She asked. Hagakure was more shocked at the latent composure Celes kept as she said this.

"How can you say something so harsh while being sweet about it dude?" He whined.

"Because if you would let me finish, I was going to add some information to their title." She finished as she turned to the rest of the group. "Now as I was saying, as for the killer themselves, I believe I might know a thing or two. Has anyone heard of the killer, Genocider Shou?"

The words were like nails on a chalkboard to everyone as chills went down their spines. While they didn't know the specifics of it, they did know when it came to a killer who's made top news, they usually ended up killing near hundreds to possibly even thousands!

"G-Ge-Genocider Shouuuuu?" Yamada screeched squeezing his face.

"Isn't she that killer who usually crucifies her victims?" Asahina asked with a fearful tone.

Celes nodded. "The very one and the same. I've actually taken a bit of time to study some of their crimes in the past. I found it rather...illuminating, to say the least."

"Y-You think they could be here in this school themselves?" Oogami stuttered. Even if she didn't have anything to really fear, being the strongest fighter around, it was a simple fact that a fear was a fear. Even if you stand to face it, it doesn't keep your heart from racing from time to time. "How-no!" Oogami cut herself off. "Why would they even THINK of letting a serial killer like her in?"

"I have yet to figure that out myself to be quite honest. However, keep in mind I'm simply using their title as a means to explain the crime scene. The crime itself was done in similar fashions to Genocider's works itself. It doesn't necessarily mean they're in this school."

"Huh?" Ishimaru questioned. " But you said that-"

"I said," Celes interrupted, "that I know which serial killer the ritual, or M.O. if you'd prefer, belongs to. I never said I was certain they were in the school, however."

"So...basically you're saying it could've been someone who studied the serial killing too, Celes?" Asahina asked tilting her head.

"Yes. And at the same time, it's possible it was serial killer themselves as well." Celes smiled. "All I'm pointing out is how the scene is related to that of Genocider Shou themselves."

"Oh...ho, ho, ho!" Hagakure laughed. "Ha, ha! That was rather insightful, dude!" Hagakure complimented. Even thought it WAS coming from Hagakure, Celes still smiled.

"Well I'm glad I could be of help." She replied.

"Oh yeah, it was helpful alright," Hagakure rubbed his nose with a sneer, "in fact, you made it a little too insightful! Celes is the murderer! Hands down!" Celes had to admit, she was taken slightly back from a remark coming from Hagakure of all people.

"I...beg your pardon?"

"Ha ha! It's a classic trap, dude!" Hagakure gloated. "You said how you know the killer's methods exactly dude! I say that sounds rather fishy if you're the only one!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think he's got a point." Oowada admitted with shame. "I mean, they chick could've pulled off the crime itself since she knows all the facts."

"...So you're saying since I'm the only one who knows the killer's M.O., I'm the only suspect." Celes smiled. "How interesting."

"You're not even phased, dude?!" Hagakure yelped.

"I think it's because it's a little too obvious that she didn't do it." Kirigiri stated.

"Huh?"

"There's two problems with your claim, Hagakure."

"If you don't mind me stealing your thunder, would you allow me to explain the first, Kirigir?" Celes requested. Kirigiri closed her eyes with a simple smile.

"Not at all."

"Now Hagakure, you say I'm the killer, correct?" Celes asked.

"Ehhh..." Hagakure was sort've curious and worried at the same time. "Kinda dude, yeah..."

"Well then, allow me to throw at you, a dilemma."

"It's not gonna hurt, is it?!" Hagakure panicked. Asahina sighed shaking her head.

"This is already so wrong for a number of reasons..." She commented.

"For one, I couldn't possibly be the killer." Celes started. "The killing itself happened after the Monokuma announcement. If you used your brain cells, you'd know I was peacefully asleep in my room."

"What?" Hagakure's pupil's shrank.

"So that is what you are getting at." Oogami understood. "In that case, she speaks the truth. I, myself, saw her entering her bedroom just minutes before the announcement was made. I believe it was about three minutes or so."

"B-But couldn't she have just left after? Maybe she went in to make an alibi or something!" Hagakure suggested.

"Oh Hagakure, it's nice to see you using something after hearing just one of my enlightened speeches." Celes, either, complimented or insulted.

Most likely insulted.

"But then there's the other issue with your claim, Hagakure." Kirigiri took over.

"And what issue's that?" He asked confused.

"If Celes was actually the killer, and tried to frame the serial killer for her wrong doings, then why did she just inform us about who's M.O. the crime scene belongs to?" She asked.

"Uhhh..." Harakure was officially lost for words.

"Up to this point, no one else had even known who the murder scene was replicating. So what benefit would I have by suddenly exposing the truth like that?" Celes asked.

There was a dark, ominous, almost dreadful, feeling one would receive, by the mere sight of Celes' casual smile. No matter how peaceful it looked, there was something terrifying behind it.

"Geh...Ohhh..."Hagakure moaned. "Ok, I'm sorry dudes. Was just trying to help."

"..."

"..."

"...Actually Hagakure, you just provided more assistance than you realized. Thank you." Kirigiri complimented with a smile.

"Huuuuuhhhh?!" Hagakure was even more confused now.

As well as everyone else.

"W-What do you mean?" Fujisaki asked curiously.

"I understand now!" Ishimaru announced. "His words provided the means to identify the real killer! Thank you, Hagakure! I have grown a new respect for you!" He pointed to Harakure with respect.

"Actually, no." Kirigiri retorted.

"Oh...In that case, I take back my previous claim." Ishimaru stated bluntly.

"Can't I just keep the claim anyway...?" Hagakure cried inside.

"But it did give us some rather great insight on how to find the killer." Kirigiri commented.

"Oh yeah? How so?" Oowada questioned.

"With Celes' alibi, we know she isn't the killer. However, with Hagakure's words, he did bring to light a rather important fact." Kirigiri insisted.

"He did?!" Nearly everyone shouted.

"I did?!" Too obvious who that was.

Kirigiri nodded. "Indeed. We know that whoever murdered Togami replicated a serial murder in this case. But it also means another relevant fact as well. The same killer also had first-hand knowledge of the Serial Killer's M.O. as well." Kirigiri explained. There were numerous light bulbs going off as everyone understood now. Everyone knew about the serial killer's title. Only someone other than Celes knew about the killer's M.O, however. "That isn't all that it revealed." She added.

"It's not?" Celes was perplexed.

"That's correct. If the killer tried to replicate the crime, with the sole purpose of pinning the crime on the serial killer themselves, then that can only mean one thing: The true killer knows the Serial Killer's true identity- and they know the Serial Killer is in this school."

There were mental gasps and surprise from everyone around. Even Celes, who appeared to have been on top of things, almost as much as Kirigiri, found herself flabbergasted by the sudden fact. To be able to maintain and gather so much information from a simple and incorrect accusation, in part thanks to Hagakure, Kirigiri managed to reveal a mountain of information at once.

With this, numerous facts were currently revealed to everyone; The killer knew about a serial killer's true identity. They discovered and replicated the Serial Killer's crime scene as a means to frame them. Whoever the killer was, they were also one of the only few who knew about the M.O. of the serial killer, a fact not known to a majority of the class.

And whoever they were, they intended to pin the crime on the serial killer from the only beginning.

But there was still one concerning question which one of them brought up.

"Umm...Kirigiri?" Fujisaki quietly spoke. "I-I think there might be a slight problem with that..." Fujisaki nearly squeaked. Kirigiri was slightly surprised.

"Hmm? What's concerning you, Fujisaki?" She asked with slight curiosity. Fujisaki tapped her chin looking away.

"Mmh...o-on second thought, never mind. It's probably n-nothing." She sniffled.

"Hey, c'mon kid! Let's hear what ya got." Oowada encouraged.

"Yeah, tell us your thoughts!" Asahina said with a bright smile.

Fujisaki remained silent for a few seconds before clearing her throat. "Eh hem, well okay..." She mumbled. "Y-You know how you said that only the real killer would know about the serial killer's whereabouts?" She asked.

"Yes, what about it?" Kirigiri had a strange feeling coming on.

"W-Well..emmm..." She cleared her throat again to speak up louder. Public speaking was clearly hard for her. "I... I kind of know about it too." She revealed.

"What?!" Ishimaru yelled. "You know about the killer's M.O.?"

"A-Ahh! I'm sorry! P-Please, forget everything I said!" Fujisaki cried, tears rolling down her face.

"Yo, bro! Take it easy, would ya?" Oowada gritted his teeth, trying to contain the anger that built up from making a girl cry. "I'm sure she has a good explanation!"

"Oh..." Ishimaru couldn't help feeling slightly shameful for being so brash like this. It was indecent to make a girl cry, which even he knew. "I-I'm sorry Fujisaki. Please calm down and tell me if you wish."

There were a few seconds of sniffles going about before Fujisaki could actually speak up again.

"Ehem..."

*Sniffle*

"O-Okay...W-What I was trying to s-say earlier," Fujisaki stuttered, "I-I-I don't know how strong your a-assumption is. About no one else knowing about the s-serial killer..." Fujisaki's lips trembled from the stress this brought her.

"Why do you think that?" Kirigiri felt a strange unease from this.

"W-Well...you remember the desk in front of Togami? I-It had information about Genocider Shou..." She stated.

Kirigiri appeared to be the one lost for words for once, surprised of all people, Fujisaki revealed this.

"There were?" She questioned.

"Y-Yeah... I m-mean anyone could've seen those papers at the time. I-I'm not implying anything, I swear!" Fujisaki almost teared up, not wanting anyone, ESPECIALLY the killer, to direct their anger at her.

"Ehh... now that she brings it up, I kinda did too dude." Hagakure confessed. "I didn't look through the whole thing, but I sorta skimmed the page it was open to for a few seconds. I mostly just examined the pictures."

"Umm... Oogami and I actually looked through it too to be honest. But we still didn't know who the M.O. belonged to." Asahina confessed as well.

"We used most of our time examining the contents of it, but it's all just as possible we missed the killer's title as well." Oogami added.

"Same here. I didn't read as much but I saw at least a page or two of info." Oowada groaned.

"Hmm… Do you at least know how many pages there were total, Oowada?" Kirigiri asked curiously.

"Uhh yeah, why?" He wondered.

"Oh, no reason. I'll just make note of that for later." She said with a simple smile.

"Guuuh…" Yamada moaned. "Then we're right back where we started. We only know who the killer impersonated, but now we don't have a strong basis for identifying." He complained.

"I-I-I'm sorry! I j-just….I just didn't want there t-t-to be any mistakes!" Fujisaki cried.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself for trying to help." Celes replied twirling her hair. "After all, our lives are on the line. It's perfectly appropriate."

"Yeah, but now we still stuck here!" Hagakure reminded. "If we don't have as many leads, we're practically stuck with the fact we only know who the killer's copying!"

"Well it's not a total loss here." Ishimaru assured. "We at least know they wouldn't have copied them unless the killer was actually in here with us."

Hagakure rubbed his chin. "Yeah, that's true I guess. But it's not much more when you think about it. I mean, throughout all this, we only have two official facts so far.

"Not to mention, your precious friend Naegi could be dying by nooow…" Monokuma teased with a creepy smile.

"Whaaa!" Hagakure shouted. "Dude, don't even joke about that!" He begged.

"Actually…he may be more honest than he's letting on." Celes commented.

She was not doing anything to ease everyone's fear.

"All of us investigated the crime scene and Naegi's last known whereabouts and have found nothing of her. If she really was kidnapped and taken somewhere, then it's likely that they've locked her in something, somewhere. And if it was a concealed place, then it's possible she could be suffocating at this point."

"**Huuuuh?!**" Hagakure, Yamada, Ishimaru, and Oowada exclaimed in unison.

"Why would you tell us something like that?! "Hagakure panicked, squeezing his head.

"Mmmhhh I vote we withhold the t-trial until we find Naegi!" Fujisaki pleaded worriedly.

"I concur!" Ishimaru agreed. "This has gone on long enough! I deem it is unfair to continue this trial under current conditions."

"Annng! Too bad, too sad! **No one's **leaving here until **after** the trial is finished!" Monokuma warned, his eye glowing red.

"Awwww this is too stressful!" Asahina whined. "Why should we do this when one of our friends' are in trouble?!"

"Upupupu… Awww what's with the sad faces?" Monokuma's teasing knew no ends. "You know, there is a way to saaaave heeeer…"

"Then speak quickly and tell us now!" Oogami practically commanded.

"Weeeeell, it's not anything surprising or anything. As long as you finish this trial in the next few minutes, you might catch her just before her dying breath." Monokuma stated.

"Would you stop with the death man!" Hagakure begged squeezing his head.

"Ok, you know what? Fuck it!" Oowada shouted angrily. "Just give me 1 minute with that fucking bear and I'll get answers!" Oowada threatened while cracking his knuckles.

"Please, bro, come to your senses!" Ishimaru warned. "It would take half the time with two people!"

"Oooohhhh…" Monokuma awed, intrigued. "Two tough beats against one me. Suuuuuper scary!"

"And stupid." Kirigiri mentioned. "You two would just end up wasting your time. Did you forget he's just a robot being controlled?"

"Oh…yeah…" Oowada scratched his head, realizing he almost picked a fight with a stuffed robot.

"Awwww." Monokuma whined lowering his head. "Now Kirigiri goes and ruin the fuuun…And I was hoping to get a little more executions out of this."

"Oh, really?" Kirigiri noticed. "In that case, why not allow us to find Naegi before we continue?"

"Huh? Haven't you been paying attention!" Monokuma roared. "I told you NO ONE IS LEAVING until the trial's over!" He quickly changed his expression from rage to a typical, easy-going, bear. "Besides, teeeechnically this is a murder in progress. I can't just go and show favoritism and "help" a student being murdered…"

"But I thought you wanted to have a little fun just now?" She commented.

Now Monokuma's curiosity was piqued. "Oh?" He gestured rubbing his chin. "I'm listening…"

"It's simple really. One outcome or another, this trial will end up in sadness. But don't you think it's unfair that Naegi doesn't get to experience the same dilemma with the rest of us? In fact, she might have things better off if she's been passed out the entire time. Free without a care in a world." She explained.

"Interesting…" Monokuma cackled. "Ahahahaha! Ok, I know how to make things verrrrry exciting then."

"Why do I doubt that…? "Yamada assumed (correctly).

"Upupupu! Ok Kirigiri, I'll make ya a deal! I'll let you choose one room in the entire school to investigate of your choosing! You win if you find Naegi there too, although alive or otherwise at this point is outside my control." Monokuma offered.

"B-But what if we don't find her in the one room?" Fujisaki asked worriedly.

"Ahahahaha! As if you have to ask! If that happens, everyone is to return here right away!" He replied.

"Well that doesn't sound so bad." Asahina commented.

Monokuma did a somewhat appropriate bow as he continued. "I'm glad you agree, because I didn't mention what's in it for ME if you do get it wrong!" He said excitedly. Asahina bit her lip.

"Me and my big mouth..."

"If you fail to return with Naegi, whether or not she's alive, then we'll skip straight to voting time!" He finished.

"Whaaat?" Yamada shouted. "That's unfair!"

"We've barely even made any progress on the crime, dude!" Hagakure added.

"Upupupu! What do you think! That's the point you dumbass!" Monokuma cackled. "It's a one in all shot to save Naegi! But if you don't think you can doooo iiiit..." He said with a slight taunt.

"W-Well no shit!" Oowada yelled. "There's no way we're risking that! I say we just quickly speed up the trial and rush for look for Naegi after! No waitin' around or nuttin'! We get just vote, get it right, and then cheese it!"

"B-Bu-But we can't just leave her!" Fujisaki cried. "S-S-She's our friend!"

"I don't want to sound selfish either here, but let's think of our plausible actions." Celes began. "On one hand, we risk trying to find Naegi in all the rooms we've already check and still don't find her. Then if we return here and vote for the killer, we risk dying while never knowing about Naegi's fate. I think that's a bit worse than if we died after at least trying to discover the killer's identity." She tapped her cheek. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Ohhhh I don't know what to do." frowned Asahina. "Both sides are right, but if Naegi can hold out until after the trial, maybe we shouldn't risk it?"

"I wouldn't even risk my 30% chance of fortune telling trying to find her, dudes." Hagakure commented depressed.

"And all of you guys have made stunning remarks!" Monokuma interrupted. "But there's one tiny little detail you haven't paid attention to; Kirigiri gets to decide whether or not to do it!"

"And I gladly accept it." Kirigiri answered.

"**Whaaaaa**t?" Once again, unison by Yamada, Oowada, Hagakure, and Ishimaru.

"Hey, wait damnit!" Oowada grumbled. "You better not fuck this up, someone's life is on the line! And I don't mean just ours!"

"I agree with bro," Ishimaru added, "I think it would be wiser to rush through as fast as possible so we can better our chances of finding her after as a full group!"

"Do you at least have an idea where she might be?" Asahina asked worriedly, not for her safety, but for that of Naegi's.

"Of course I do." Kirigiri claimed. "Plus, if I am right about this, and we find her, it might help shed some light on a particular something that's been bothering me." She mentioned rubbing her chin.

"Well, let's leave mysteries aside for IF you find Naegi to begin with!" Monokuma cheered. "So, Kirigiri, which room would you like to investigate? Choooooose wiselyyyyyy..."

...

...

...

"Look, I'm telling ya this is pointless." Oowada groaned, rubbing his head.

It wasn't particularly that he didn't want to help, so to speak. But the fact he already spent, which was more like wasted, several minutes during the investigation with Oogami to check out everyone's room, it was understandable.

"Are you positive you looked everywhere...?" Kirigiri asked scanning the rest of the room.

"Course I am!" Oowada snapped. "I get the fact Togami was the one who died, so Oogami and I practically double checked everything! The suitcase, the drawers, hell the bathroom, you name it!"

"We even moved the tables, beds, and the anything else bolted to the floor. It was spotless." Oogami sorrowed. "The only thing weird was the suitcase we found on the bed."

Asahina looked up to her best friend. "What was so weird about it?"

"For some reason it was filled with weights." She answered bluntly.

True enough, the room was remarkably clean, well, not including everything thrown around it after Oowada's and Oogami's investigation. But there wasn't much in terms of "Naegi".

If they were going to hide someone, you'd always pick a concealed spot, or one not easily noticed, and hide them there. But within the confines of Togami's room, which only Kirigiri, Asahina, Fujisaki, Oowada, and Oogami occupied, to prevent any cramping, especially if Naegi was found, there was no Naegi.

It was just a simple, albeit highly decorated, room, inside a simple school with a simple psychotic Monokuma.

"You say you've searched everywhere, correct?" Kirigiri asked.

"For the 5th time, yes!" Oowada grumbled. It wasn't so much that he was angered by her constant questioning. What irritated him was the thought that Kirigiri chose incorrectly when they could've gone with his idea and rushed through the trial instead. "Repeat after me! The drawers, the bed, the suitcase-"

"What about the second suitcase?" She brought up.

"The Second suitcaaaa-" Oowada stuttered at the sudden remark. His eyes were scanning the entire room, and much to his shock and wonder, there was indeed a second suitcase in the corner of the room. It was simple, brown, had wheels, but more importantly, it was BIG. "W-Wa-Wait...wait...wait..." Oowada rubbed his eyes to ensure he wasn't hallucinating. Even Oogami was overcome with shock.

"What?! How did that get here?!" She grumbled squeezing her fists.

"S-Sakura?" Asahina murmured.

The two of them nearly bolted in a mad dash, followed by the rest of the gang, heading over to the apparently untouched suitcase. Oowada quickly pulled it out from between the wall and dresser, frantically looking for the right zipper.

His heart raced in anxiety, already noticing how the suitcase was rather heavy for mere clothes.

"No no, she can't be in this. This is bullshit!" Oowada continued to growl as he found the zipper. "This suitcase was not in here after we searched the first time, I'm dead serious."

"W-We-Well maybe you overlooked it the first time?" Fujisaki timidly suggested, terrified at the rage building up behind Oowada's expression. "I m-me-mean maybe-"

"No, Fujisaki. It was absolutely not here the first time." Oogami turned to her. "I even moved the dresser to where it was now when we first investigated. Someone brought it here."

The silence did nothing to prevent everyone's attention from being dragged to the suitcase once Oowada found the zipper. From that, it was the moment of truth, as he hastily pulled the suitcase wide open.

And Kirigiri's guess was, indeed, correct.

There she laid- Naegi Makoto in the flesh. Whoever put her in such a position did a surprisingly dandy job with keeping her there. Her wrists were tied together behind her back, as her arms were pinned to her sides by extra room.

From what Oowada could see as he pulled her out of the bag, she had something causing her cheeks to bulge out. He could only assume with the rest that it was the result of a much needed suitable gag, as, it was later revealed, she had socks stuffed in her mouth, with cloth tied around it to prevent her from possibly spitting it out.

As the ropes were being undone, Kirigiri quickly made haste in untying the cloth concealing her eyes, wanting to see if they were frozen as a result of dying, or closed, with a hopeful chance that she was alive.

"Watch her head!" Fujisaki said worriedly. Kirigiri did a brief double take between her and Naegi's head before realizing what she meant.

She's surprised she didn't notice it as she was untying the cloth behind her head. There was a small bit of blood on her hands. Upon checking it, most of it appeared to be dried up by now, but there was a very, very, thin amount of it that still seemed fresh.

"Oh my gosh!" Asahina squealed worriedly. She quickly kneeled to her friend's side. "Is she ok?! Hey, Naegi! Wake up!" She pleaded.

Oowada let out a somewhat exhausted sigh, catching his breath from his hasty time spent trying to untie the young girl.

"Man, that rope was on tight. Would've taken her forever to untangle herself." Oowada commented.

"I doubt she could do so anyway." Oogami looked closely at Naegi's right shoulder. "She injured her shoulder the other day when she was working out. I doubt she could've gotten loose in her present state."

"G-Guys!" Asahina cried. "She's not waking up!"

"N-No!" Fujisaki's tears were already pouring down her cheek as she dropped to her knees. "N-Naegi...P-P-Please...Please wake up!" She cried shaking her arm.

"No...you...you gotta be kidding me..." Oowada could only close his eyes as he turned his head, praying this was just one bad joke. Oogami began grumbling as her anger rose, fists clenching tighter and tighter. Even for the mighty warrior, there was a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"No...This is...all my fault..." She growled. If you couldn't see an aura, you'd definitely would if you saw Oogami's. "I should've...stayed with her...Nooo...DAMNIT!" She cursed, punching her fist into the metal-played window with all her might. Although it was futile as the first time she tried, the impact was strong enough to leave a good sized dent of Oogami's fist print.

"This is stupid...Hey, wake up damn it!" Oowada shouted in a commanding tone, getting to his knee. Asahina sniffled as she watched Oowada grab Naegi's shoulder.

*WHACK!*

If Naegi was dead, then he'd be showing disrespect for it. He kept hitting behind her back repeatedly, trying to snap her out of whatever was wrong with her.

"I said wake, damn it!" He continued.

*WHACK!*

"A lot of people are counting on you to help them!"

*WHACK!*

"And we need you to tell us who the killer is!" He increased his strength with each blow.

*WHACK!*

"So hurry up, and **WAKE UP**!"

***WHACK!***

"Ack-! Hack-ouuhgh..coughhh..." And with much surprise and joy, Naegi suddenly awoke in a coughing fit as she began breathing for dear life. "Huuufff...huuuuufff..." Even with her amount of life, her eyes were only half open.

But it was more than enough for all of them.

"Naegi!" Asahina and Fujisaki squealed excitedly, quickly hugging their precious friend.

"Aacckk-Uuugghh-!" Naegi was suddenly losing what little air was pocketed in her lungs as she felt her life fading again.

"Ah! Guys, guys, give her some air!" Oowada panicked as he nearly had to pry the two apart.

Naegi herself was no less she was found, even more alive, as she rested against the floor, Kirigiri holding her.

"Gh...G-Guys...?" She muttered weakly, her voice almost too raspy to speak.

"From the sound of your voice, it's a good thing we found you when we did." Kirigiri said with a slight bit of joy. She stroked her friend's back to continue easing her, and soften it slightly since Oowada just finished pounding it. "Any longer, and I doubt you would've lasted." She remarked.

Oowada couldn't help but frown as he looked away from the guilt that was filling him.

"Wh...wh-where...am..." Naegi continued on, each word being a little less raspy than the last.

"Y-You're in Togami's bedroom. We've been looking for you ever since this morning!" Fujisaki answered happily. It was no surprise since they JUST appeared to have made it on time.

"To...Toga..." Naegi's eyes lit up briefly as she leaned up. "TOGA-hack oughhh..." And once more found herself falling back in a coughing fit.

"Whoa, hey! Take it easy Naegi! You've been through a lot!" Asahina warned. Naegi coughed for a few seconds before groaning, eyes half shut again.

"D..Did you...Is he really...?" He wondered. The silence gave her all the answers she needed. "N-No..." She clenched her eyes again as tears already began welling up. "Why...Why again...?" She already began sniffling by the time Asahina noticed.

"H-Hey, don't worry about it," Asahina said with the hope of cheering her friend up, "t-try to think positive!" She suggested. Naegi sniffled for a few seconds before looking back with watery eyes.

"L...Like what?" She asked. The fact Asahina was tapping her chin in thought didn't help the "mood".

"W-Well..umm..." She mumbled. "Oooh!" She squealed happily, setting her fist against her palm in realization. "Well for starters, you're still alive right?" She reminded with a simple smile

Naegi looked down in thought. It wasn't exactly the most "amazing" revelation after all she's gone through so far, but it did have a little merit for whatever it's worth.

Too bad with how she was currently feeling, and considering the alternative was the death of her friend, it didn't feel like much.

"I...guess that's true..." She mumbled.

"It's really quite fortunate they gagged you to be honest." Kirigiri added, trying somewhat to ease the mood. The single comment still left her with some confused stares.

"Huh?" Asahina asked.

"The fact you were forced to breath through your nose the entire time is probably what saved your life at this point." Kirigiri explained. "If you had kept breathing through your mouth the entire time, you could've most likely used up all your oxygen by this point."

"Yeah, I'd have to agree with her on this one," Oowada realized, "if you kept taking deep breaths or panicked and whatnot, you probably would've used up all your air if your mouth wasn't stuffed." He paused looking back at the suitcase. "I mean, I can't honestly tell if you'd lose air from this thing, but...it's probably best if we didn't find out."

Naegi coughed a bit as she wiped her tongue slightly on her sleeve.

"I'm more thankful it was just socks to be honest." She joked weakly. It still earned her a few laughs and chuckles from her surrounding friends, all glad for their friend's health. She looked back as she felt Fujisaki gently hold her hand with both of hers.

"Yeah!" She added. "A-And when we finish this, we can have another 'room sleepover' last few nights!"

"Hey yeah, that sounds like fun! I'll even come too!" Asahina promised. "Hey, you should come too Kirigiri!" She suggested. Kirigiri looked utterly surprised for a brief second before looking away with a slight blush.

"U-Umm...I appreciate the offer, but...I'm not usually one for sleepovers. Sorry." She apologized.

At least she was honest.

The silence in the room was enough to hear the sound of the door opening.

"Hey, you guys find Nag's, yet?" Hagakure asked.

"Oh, yeah! We'll be out soon!" Asahina called back.

"Well hurry up! It's getting creepy out here..." Hagakure whined, looking back into the hall.

There was something deeply disturbing when you saw a cute, teddy bear-sized animatronic like Monokuma, sawing and crafting pitch black coffins on the opposite side of the wall from you.

Especially when they had everyone's names labeled onto the coffins.

"Ok, we're coming out." Asahina rolled her eyes. "Geeze, some men are so impatient." She stood while commenting.

Kirigiri nodded to her as she tucked her legs in. Grabbing Naegi with both her arms around her and throwing Naegi's left arm around her neck, she steadily eased Naegi into a standing position, helping keeping her balanced so she didn't fall.

"Can you guys give us a minute?" Kirigiri requested. "I want Naegi to have some time to get some feeling back in her legs and arms."

The others gave her an agreeable nod as they parted towards the door. Although they each wanted to help, they were all glad that their friend was back with them.

Once the door closed behind sigh before smiling back to Naegi.

"Alright, c'mon. We'll take this one easy step at a time. It'll let you rest up as much as possible if we go slowly." Kirigiri explained. Naegi gave her a simple yet weak nod.

"O-Okay..." She mumbled. there was still a sense of sadness hidden in her raspy voice. One which Kirigiri still managed to notice.

"I know what you must've thought from what Asahina said, but you should know she's just trying to make you feel better." Kirigiri stated.

Naegi sighed, still in a slight depression. "I-I...know..." She muttered. Kirigiri took a deep breath in and out before she began slowly walking Naegi over to the door. "It just... It doesn't mean I don't feel...bad..."

"No one says you don't have to, Naegi." Kirigiri assured. "You can feel as bad as you want, and no one would judge you for it, especially around here."

"I know...but..." Naegi felt her lips trembling. "It doesn't hurt any less. I-I mean just seeing him like that when I left the room was-"

*tap*

The simple tap was all Naegi noticed, legs still a bit numb, as she noticed Kirigiri's sudden pause. Much to her surprise, Kirigiri was giving her a bewildered look of both surprise and confusion.

"When you left the room?" She repeated. "What do you mean, left?" Naegi blinked back to her.

"W-Well...you know...When I left the weight room last night." Naegi explained. "D-Didn't you see it? It was only a few feet from the separate rooms."

For once since Naegi had met her, Kirigiri's eyelids were raised with much surprise, curiosity, and a slight bit of shock.

"Y-You saw Togami's body outside the weight room?" She questioned. Naegi tilted her head slightly, unsure of what was wrong.

"Y-Yeah...isn't that where you found him? He had a pair of scissors in his chest." Naegi added. Kirigiri raised her eyes in a brief thought before focusing again.

"Say...just out of curiosity, how many scissors were in him at the time?" She asked curiously.

"O-One...why?" She asked. Once again, Kirigiri looked down as she thought briefly for a few seconds, then gave her back a simple smile.

"Naegi...I want to thank you for the information." Kirigiri thanked as she slowly, to allow Naegi a few extra seconds to recover, edged closer to the door. Naegi gave her a light smile.

"Y-You're welcome." She replied, turning her way back towards the door.

From the corner of Kirigiri's eyes, she looked back to Naegi, feeling a tight pang in her heart.

"_Naegi... Please don't hate me after this..._"

...

...

"Upupupu! Okay, back with your featured programming!" Monokuma cheered from his throne with his fist pumped in the air. "Sadly we didn't get straight to the execution at this point, so I suppose we'll be here for awhile longer. But on a brighter side of things, now I have a few new coffins to put to use once we're done!" He cheered.

"And we found Naegi again, right?" Asahina grumbled with her arms crossed. Monokuma looked back between her and Naegi and then sighed.

"Yeaaaah," Monokuma frowned, "I guess if you wanna take the fun out of it, that also happened..."

If it wasn't for the fact she was semi-used to it by now, Naegi would've taken that a little personal after all that's happened.

"Gee...thanks..." Naegi muttered. She looked back to the expectant eyes in front of her, and one pair in particular. "Hey, what's wrong with Fukawa?" She asked, noticing her frozen state.

Stares were thrown back to her by this point. Except for Naegi, everyone suddenly realized they forgot about her when they came looking for Naegi and left behind.

Still in the same frozen state as once before!

"I...don't really know, Nags," Hagakure replied, poking Fukawa for signs of life, "she's kinda been like this ever since Togs kicked the buck-"

*creeeee-THUD!*

If you hadn't seen it yourself, you would have thought a tree had steadily tipped over before falling. But that wasn't the truth.

In reality, that was the sound of a girl, who had an interest in things made from books, who had suddenly fallen over without so much as a yelp of pain or fear.

"**Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh**!" Hagakure screeched squeezing his head. "Pardon the language but holy shit, dude! I swear I barely touched her, honest!" He screamed. Monokuma would've rolled his eyes if he had any.

"Oh pipe down, she isn't dead..." Monokuma tapped his chin. "I think?"

"Then let us cut onto a more pressing matter," Celes gestured towards Naegi, "like the identity of the killer, perhaps?"

"I have to agree!" Ishimaru smiled with excitement. "With Naegi's input, it should be a simple manner of voting for the culprit right after!"

With this many brightened, expectant, heads turned towards Naegi, the young Good Luck couldn't help but slightly frown. She looked down as she rubbed her hands slightly in regret.

"U-U-uhh..." Naegi let out a slightly audible gulp. "Y-Yeah...a-about that..." She couldn't even bring herself to finish until after she pulled her hood over part of her face. "I umm...never really got a look at the killer to be honest. I was knocked out from behind...Sorry." She apologized.

"Hmm, I see! Thank you very much for the informa- **Huuuuuuuuhhhhhhh**!?" Yamada stammered.

"Of all the fucking luck..." Oowada groaned under his breath.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" Naegi shouted worriedly with a slight apologetic bow. "I-I just saw the body before being knocked out! An-a-and..." Her lips trembled again.

With his honor and sense of trouble forming a line, Oowada casually gave her the thumbs up again.

"H-hey, don't worry about it!" He said. "Important thing is you're back on your feet, right Yamada?" He asked looking back.

"Of all the rotten inconveniences," Yamada muttered to himself, "why could she at least have seen the kil-"

The sharp, stinging pain he felt as Asahina suddenly pulled on his left ear snapped him out of his despair-induced stupor.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, OWWWWWW!" Yamada squealed. "I mean- I mean-! Yes! It's good! Ow! I mean , very good! Ouch! I'm so happy, it's good! Owowow! Can you pleeeease let go?!" Yamada begged. "I feel like it's coming off!"

"Despite the circumstances, you should be proud of yourself, Naegi." Oogami complimented. "Not many can go through what you did and get back on their feet to fight like this." She said with a smile.

Naegi could only groan despite everything.

"I still would've been more useful if I had seen something though..." She complained. Kirigiri looked at her intently for a few seconds, then let out a steady breath.

"I think you've actually been more helpful than you realize, Naegi. And for that, you have my thanks." Kirigiri claimed, much to Naegi's surprise.

"Huh?" She mumbled. "What do you mean?"

"Is there something you discovered out of this, Kirigiri?" Celes asked with anticipation.

"Perhaps..." She simply replied before turning to the rest. "But before that, I need to confirm something. Something to help narrow down the list of suspects it couldn't be."

"L-Like what?" Fujisaki asked curiously.

"Before I reveal that, there's something I need to know first." She added. "Asahina, and to anyone else who saw the files, remember back when you said you read the files on Genocider Shou?" She reminded.

Asahin wasn't sure why she would bring it up, but it was better than nothing. "Ummm yes?" She answered.

"Do you remember how many pages there were?" Kirigiri wondered.

"Hmm it would not be impossible to estimate it just in case." Ishimaru believed, rubbing his chin with his fist.

"Yeah, what bro said." Oowada agreed. "I think I got a pretty good idea."

"In that case, let's put that to a count." Kirigiri suggested.

Hagakure rubbed his chin. "A... count?"

"On the count of three," Kirigiri began as she held up three fingers from her right hand, "I want everyone to state how many pages there were."

"Does that include front and pack or separately?" Yamada asked for confirmation.

"Hmph, thanks for reminding me. Separately, if you would please." Kirigiri answered. "It'll help prove those who read the file isn't the killer.

"Isn't-" Oogami pondered. Sensing her urge to speak up, Kirigiri cut her off.

"Just trust me. It should bring some interesting revelations." Kirigiri promised. Oogami remained focused on her words briefly before closing her eyes, nodding.

"Very well, I am ready." She agreed. Kirigiri nodded.

"Very well then. Then on the count of three." She started, holding up one finger at a time as she marked off the numbers. "One... Two...Three!"

"**Six**!"

"Seven!"

And like that the trap was sprung.

All eyes suddenly turned to the odd speaker out. Many of which were confused, others, like Celes and Oogami, understand what it meant. It also brought Kirigiri's suspicions to a close, while her worry only doubled in size as her heart beat.

"I see...I was afraid of that." Kirigiri revealed.

"W-Wait, what does this mean?" Oowada asked around.

"I see...the killer fell for your trap quite well, Kirigiri." Celes complimented with a smile.

"W-Wait, you mean the killer's-?!" Asahina was shocked for words.

All eyes were focused intently on one person. Naegi was the only odd one out who couldn't understand a single thing that was going on.

She did get a few details while on her way back to the Class Trial, like Togami's location, which confused her, the bloody writing, and how it was connected to someone named Genocider Shou.

But all expressions she currently saw confused her only deeper. It didn't make any sense.

"W-Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Naegi asked aloud to everyone.

Monokuma couldn't help but chuckle as he covered his mouth. "Upupupu, Kirigiri was right. This IS more fun now..." He commented.

"F-Fun? What fun-? What are you guys talking about?!" Naegi nearly shouted, her voice still raspy all the same. Everyone just continued to stare. At this point, Naegi knew the only information she was getting was from the one person they were all staring at.

"H-Hey...what are they all talking about... Fujisaki?"


	3. Murders and revelations! Trial P2

The trap had been sprung. The weight of it slowly filled the room.

To some of them, the weight managed to bring understanding.

To others, it continued to baffle them at what the sudden realization brought.

But to Naegi, all it did was bring confusion, and eventually, it would only bring despair...

"W-Wait, why are you guys looking at her like that? F-Fujisaki, what's going on?" Naegi asked around. She was the only one in the dark about everything currently going on.

Even to those who didn't understand completely, they were still closer to the truth than she could ever be.

"W-What's everyone staring at me like that for?" Fujisaki cringed.

"Fujisaki, perhaps you can explain this to me." Kirigiri requested as she rubbed her chin. "How exactly did you come to seven pages while everyone else counted six?"

Fujisaki blinked. "S-Six?" She froze for a few, silent, seconds as she thought. "O-Oh! Haha," she chuckled with anxiety. "D-Did I say seven? I meant s-six too!" She corrected. She poked her chin with wonder. "I-I guess I must've miscounted...or counted the file itself by mistake."

"Hmm, a reasonable correct claim, of course." Yamada agreed. "I-It's impossible my darling Chihiro could be a suspect."

"Y-Yeah dude," Oowada added, rubbing the back of his head, "I mean the kid can barely stand on her own when someone's yelling at her. And to someone like Togami? That's just...There's no way she could."

Celes hid the slight grin growing on her face with her fingertips. "Hmhm, I can't help but agree with both sentiments, yet I feel like there's something Kirigiri has yet to show us." She suggested.

"S-Show us?" Fujisaki asked curiously. Kirigiri could only shake her head, slightly in disappointment.

"To be honest, Fujisaki, knowing your usual demeanor, I hadn't considered it possible at first." Kirigiri revealed her feelings. "After your sudden confession, I've realized now that I've been taking you for granted. And I apologize for that." She crossed her arms as she focused on Fujisaki intently. "You're no different from everyone else- someone capable of killing."

Numerous glances were thrown between Fujisaki and Kirigiri all at once. Glances of shock, glances of peril, and glances of continued doubt.

But among them, only Naegi's glance was empty. No shock, no despair, and no doubt.

"K-Ki-Killer...?" Naegi muttered. Her eyelid began to twitch slightly as her face curled into a grin. "H-Hey K-Kirigiri, enough of the jokes p-please. Can we find out the real killer now?" Naegi said in denial. Her pupils quivered endlessly.

Kirigiri could see the pain had already sprouted. And it would only grow.

"Naegi...I'm sorry that you have to watch this, but it's the truth." She apologized. "The one who murdered Togami," she pointed intently, "was Chihiro Fujisaki!"

W-Whaaat?!" Fujisaki cried loudly.

"H-Hey, don't get so worked up, Kirigiri." Oowada commented. "I-I mean maybe you should make absolutely sure before you say something like that."

"I agree!" Ishimaru yelled proudly. "To make such an accusation towards some like her is unthinkable!"

"K-Kirigiri, are you even sure about this?" Asahina asked. She was conflicted between doubt and worry. "I mean, out of anyone, how could..." She trailed off in thought. "W-Wait, is this because she got the number of pages wrong?" She wondered. Fujisaki hiccupped as she sniffled.

"I-I-I j-ju-just misr-red it wrong," Fujisaki sobbed loudly, "a-and you think- you think... t-that makes me a k-k-killer?!"

"On the contrary, that's not the problem." Kirigiri stated. Fujisaki froze suddenly as she looked at her. "The real problem is," she dug through her coat pocket, pulling out a crumbled piece of paper, "that's the correct number of pages."

All eyes were focused on her now. Now all, except for Naegi, were enlightened and shocked.

The trap had been revealed to all of them, especially Fujisaki, whose expression had left her eyes.

And now, the trial would truly begin.

"K-Kirigiri," Fujisaki mumbled "w-w-where did you get that?" She shook with a pointed finger.

"Oh, this?" Kirigiri implied with a smile. "It's just a little paper I found from the files in front of Togami."

"You took that from the files, dude?!" Hagakure stammered. "Why would you do something like that?"

"Just in case something like this was to occur." Kirigiri replied. "I wanted to have a little "insurance policy" with me for the trial. Looks like my intuition proved useful too."

"Heh? Insurance policy?" Yamada questioned.

"Teehee," Celes chuckled, "that was rather mischievous of you, Kirigiri, but it looks like it worked."

"B-But where did you get it?" Fujisaki repeated, almost demanding for an answer.

"Like I said, I found it when I came across Togami's body. And, before you say anything, Celes already assured me that despite the three of you discovering Togami's corpse, none of you went over to his body as you contended with Fukawa." Kirigiri explained.

"Indeed I did." Celes agreed with a sweetened smile.

"Wait, hold on," Oowada said, "you knew about the issue with the number of pages earlier, didn't you? So why didn't you bring anything up then?" Kirigiri grew silent for awhile.

She had two things concerning her from all of this. One was figuring out how to organize her thoughts. There were so many things revealed from Naegi's "help" from earlier that she needed to piece them all together.

That was the easy part.

The hard part, was figuring out how far she could put up with this, without having to worry about Naegi's sanity breaking. After all the poor girl had gone through within the last week alone, this was the last that she needed.

Perhaps the last she could even handle.

Kirigiri looked back again. "Because to be honest, I needed to clarify other factors that were bothering first."

"W-Wait, h-hold on, please!" Fujisaki cried. "W-What are you talking about? How does that make me a ki-killer?!" She sobbed.

"I can tell you're willing to drag this out, aren't you?" Kirigiri asked. "If you truly need to know, the answers simple."

"Well tell the rest of us dude, because quite frankly I don't get it either." Hagakure commented.

"Huff, she didn't say it was THAT simple." Asahina sighed.

"I'll clarify if needed, but it should be easy to understand. "Kirigiri said holding the paper. "I took this immediately after discovering the body, and before anyone else had a chance to see. So the question this concerns is, when did you have the time to see this?"

"Hmmm so that's what you were getting at." Oogami realized. "If none of us saw the paper before the murder occurred, then the only possible time they could have-"

"Is before, when the murder was taking place." Kirigiri answered.

Now was the time for truth from Fujisaki's own mouth.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Oh?" She asked with a curious tone. "Is that all?"

Kirigiri nearly flinched, being caught off guard by such an unexpected response. There was something wrong, especially as she watched Fujisaki sigh in great relief.

"Phew, oh dear. I'm really sorry for the misunderstanding, Kirigiri." Fujisaki apologized.

"_Something's not right..._" Kirigiri thought to herself. "What misunderstanding, Fujisaki?" She asked.

"Umm..w-well you see, w-when I saw the files about Genocider Shou, i-it was actually the day before yesterday." Fujisaki revealed. For once Kirigiri's eyes widened.

"What?" She was confused at the sudden turn around.

"Y-Yeah...You can ask Fukawa if she wakes up and Naegi herself. Two nights ago, I left from Naegi's room because Fukawa needed me for something." Fujisaki frowned slightly after. "I-It only involved getting y-yelled at by Togami, and I saw the files he was reading when I looked down from him... but it's a fact both Fukawa and Naegi can prove."

"Y-Yeah!" Naegi said with excitement and great relief. "I saw her coming down the hall crying too!"

"Ah ha, I see!" Ishimaru yelled. "And if Togami was to show up the next day for Monokuma's last motive, then there's no way Fujisaki could possibly be the killer!" He exclaimed.

"That is an interesting turnabout." Celes said looking back to Kirigiri. "Do you have anything you'd wish to add, Kirigiri?"

Kirigiri was at a loss for words to be honest. Everything had gone so well for her up till that point, that it almost looked like she was on top of things the entire time. Yet, the one instance she gets shot down completely demoralized her as she stood there dumbfounded

Had she been wrong? Had she off track from the very beginning? She couldn't even focus her thoughts anymore. She simply stood there with a blank expression on her face.

And there was only one thing she could say.

"Huh... I guess I was wrong." Kirigiri admitted. There were a few surprised looks from the audience who heard her.

For those like Celes, they were surprised Kirigiri admitted to being wrong about such a thing. For others like Naegi, the only other being Fujisaki, she smiled brightly at the outcome.

"Huh, seriously?" Hagakure asked in disbelief.

"I never thought I'd hear those words coming from you." Celes admitted.

"Well they are, and she's right." Kirigiri replied. "Fujisaki, I dearly hope you can accept my apology." Kirigiri said with a slight bow. Fujisaki smiled warmly to her.

"I-It's ok Kirigiri! I-'m really sorry for the misunderstanding to be honest." She, as always, slightly teared up. "I wish I mentioned it earlier to avoid conflict."

"No, no, no," Kirigiri shook her head, "this was undoubtedly my fault, and for that, I am sorry." Kirigiri deemed. There were a few awkward stares directed towards her.

"Hey uhhh Kirigiri, are you feeling ok?" Asahina wondered.

Instead of her, Kirigiri turned her attention directly at Naegi. "Especially to you too, Naegi," Kirigiri apologized holding her hands, "I'm so sorry for ever doubting you and your trust in friends." She frowned. Naegi's smile brightened to heights that Kirigiri hadn't seen before since things started.

It would be the last she would see in a long while after this.

"It's ok, Kirigiri!" Naegi said happily. "Like Fujisaki said, everyone makes mistakes!"

"No, really, I should've had more faith in you." Kirigiri's lips began to tremble as she looked away slightly.

"Hey, what's up with this chick all of a sudden?" Oowada asked confused.

"I almost risked everyone's life because of one stupid assumption," Kirigiri's voice wavered, "and now because of it, we may never find anymore clues leading to the killer." She closed her eyes as she started sniffling. "Could you ever forgive me?" She begged.

If you saw her directly, you'd think she was about to cry.

Naegi softly held her shoulders as she continued to smile.

"Kirigiri, it's alright, you don't have to be sad!" Naegi encouraged. "We just need to take everything slow! We just need to find out why he was murdered, who moved him from the weight room to the library, and who copied the serial killer's M.O., and everything will be alright!" She assured.

"..."

"..."

"..."

It took Naegi a short while to realize the ambience of the room had shifted. From conflicted opinions, the room had suddenly gone silent once more. And she had no idea what she said was the most vital part of this case.

She had no idea that she had fallen into Kirigiri's last trap.

And for once, Fujisaki's expression was covered in hallow-eyed fear, but without a single tear in her eye this time.

"W-What..." She paused looking around. "What's everyone so surprised for?"

"What do you think dude?!" Hagakure stammered. "You're suddenly telling us the crime actually happened in the Weight Room?!"

"We always thought the crime happened in the Library," Asahina stated, "we never even checked the Weight area!"

"Huh?" Naegi raised her brow. "B-But I thought Kirigiri would've told you all after-...!" Naegi's pupils shrank as she suddenly let out a gasp.

It was almost in a zombie-like trance as she stiffly turned her head facing Kirigiri again. Kirigiri clearly knew what she did as she had a simple frown on her face looking away. She wouldn't even shift her eyes or glance back at Naegi.

She perfectly knew what she did to Naegi at this moment. And she was right; Naegi was tearing up inside with each passing second.

Total awkwardness followed by your typical "...ouch..." moment?

Yes.

"Naegi..." Kirigiri muttered softly as she gently patted Naegi's hands off her shoulders. "I'm sorry." She apologized.

Only the she-devil herself could find any amusement from this. "Hmhmhm," Celes chuckled, "that was a rather cruel performance you just put on for us, Kirigiri." She commented.

Kirigiri couldn't even face the rest of the group for a brief moment, already feeling the scorn she was giving off to herself. "I didn't do it to be "cruel", Celes. It was the only way to ensure Naegi would give me the truth without fear of lying."

"Dude...but still..." Hagakure groaned.

Everyone could feel the same twinge of pain from the performance Kirigiri displayed. They all knew why she did it- Naegi was close to her friend, Fujisaki. They were practically best friends!

But with Naegi's recent trauma and other problems, everyone did know her emotions would be a bit unstable. There would be no way in knowing if she would tell the truth if she discovered for herself if Fujisaki was the killer or not. As harsh as it was, it was also a simple fact.

They couldn't trust her at this time.

"Besides that, Fujisaki's behavior the entire time is that of a true killer's too." She added. Yamada grew curious.

"Huh? Could you elaborate on this, please?" He asked.

"Just think of everything that's gone on in the trial. To be honest, I didn't pay it too much attention at first, but now I'm sure." Kirigiri said with such determination as she pointed to Fujisaki. "She's been trying to mislead us this entire time!"

"Huh? When has she ever attempted this?" Ishimaru asked.

"Think back to all the critical points we came across, all the points that she shot down." She reminded as she began counting off with her fingers. "First their was the bit with the Killer's profile...

_"Umm...Kirigiri?" Fujisaki quietly spoke. "I-I think there might be a slight problem with that..." Fujisaki nearly squeaked. Kirigiri was slightly surprised. _

_"I-I-I don't know how strong your a-assumption is. About no one else knowing about the s-serial killer..." Fujisaki's lips trembled from the stress this brought her._

_"W-Well...you remember the desk in front of Togami? I-It had information about Genocider Shou..." She stated. _

"To be honest, I actually thought you were just making an input, but as of now, I realized you were trying to divert attention from yourself." Kirigiri explained as she held up a second finger. "Secondly, it's what you said immediately after we found Naegi.

_"Watch her head!" Fujisaki said worriedly. Kirigiri did a brief double take between her and Naegi's head before realizing what she meant._

_She's surprised she didn't notice it as she was untying the cloth behind her head. There was a small bit of blood on her hands. Upon checking it, most of it appeared to be dried up by now, but there was a very, very, thin amount of it that still seemed fresh._

"You actually surprised me quite a bit. One thing I couldn't help ponder was how you immediately knew something was wrong with her head before we even finished taking her out.

"T-tch I-I-I was just-!" Fujisaki teared up.

"3rd," Kirigiri interrupted holding up her third finger, "you seemed pretty insistent that the suitcase found in Togami's room, even though it was in a place it couldn't even be to begin with..."

_"W-We-Well maybe you overlooked it the first time?" Fujisaki timidly suggested, terrified at the rage building up behind Oowada's expression. "I m-me-mean maybe-"_

_"No, Fujisaki. It was absolutely not here the first time." Oogami turned to her. "I even moved the dresser to where it was now when we first investigated. Someone brought it here."_

"Now why would you insist it was in a place like that?" Kirigiri asked herself. "The only interpretation I came up with," she said smiling back calmly, "is that you didn't even know it was in place of something from a different time.

"If you will allow it, Kirigiri," Oogami began requesting, "I also have something to make note of." She stated.

"Sakura?" Asahina asked curiously.

Oogami turned her gaze towards Fujisaki. "Fujisaki, one thing has gravely bothered me when we discovered Togami's room like that, and you know what it is."

"N-No I don't! J-Just stop making these lies about me pleeeese!" She cried loudly.

"Chihiro," Oogami said again, grabbing her attention, "earlier today when I saw you in the hallway, you were undoubtedly wheeling the same suitcase...twice..."

_*Flashback*_

_"Fujisaki, what are you doing with that?" Oogami asked, halting Fujisaki's progress down the hallway._

_It was one thing to be wheeling down a suitcase half her size, twice in width, in a hallway. It'd be another thing to be doing it during a class trial investigation!_

_"O-Oh...I-I-I'm sorry!" Fujisaki cried. "I-I was just getting some weights from the weight room to bring to my room..."_

_"Again? Fujisaki, our friend is in peril, and you're wasting time gather weights?!" Oogami nearly yelled._

_"I-I'm sorry! I just- I just-!...Tch awwhhahaaa!" Fujisaki began sobbing loudly. "I j-just don't want to die neeeext!" She cried. Oogami looked at her with anticipation. "I-I-I need to get st-stronger... b-but I'm too scared to come outside my room anymore after this!" She sniffled. "I-I don't...I don't want to be the next one to diiie! A-and I don't want to end up like Naegi eitherrrr!" She continued sobbing. _

_Oogami continued staring at her before softening her expression. She knew that Fujisaki and Naegi were indefinitely best of friends. A part of her believed she was only doing this as a distraction, so as to not hide her fear or sadness in front of everyone else. _

_Oogami kneeled as she gently patted Fujisaki's shoulder. "Chihiro, forget what I said. I am sorry." She apologized. She waited for Fujisai to ease on her hiccupping for the next few seconds before she continued. "I understand you must be under a lot of stress. Why don't I help carry this to your room?" She suggested. _

_Fujisaki rubbed her nose with her sleeves briefly before giving back a weak smile. "N-No...That's ok. I know I shouldn't do this either, but I'm just scared. Please, continue looking for Naegi, I'll come help once I drop this off." She promised. Oogami smiled with a nod before parting ways with her once more._

_*End Flashback*_

"I was a fool to fall for such a trick." Oogami grumbled, crossing her arms.

"What the fresh heck dude?!" Hagakure yelled. "You didn't bother checking inside the suitcase itself?! Nag's was held up in it!" Oogami retained her silence for a few moments.

"I did not bother, because earlier in the day she was doing the same thing." She explained.

"Huh?"

"She was wheeling down a caseload of weights in the suitcase to her room earlier this morning. At that time, she even showed me one of said weights to prove it." Oogami's anger rose from that remark. "If I wasn't so foolish as to not check the other one..." She growled.

"From the sounds of it, the first one was a simple herring, I believe, so you would be less likely to do so later." Celes noticed.

"It appears it was also success on that part." Ishimaru added.

"Ah! Wait! How did she even have the time to bring the suitcases to the weight room to begin with?" Asahina asked. "She was with you guys the whole time until Celes sent her to find us." Asahina mentioned.

"Oh? Then perhaps it's a good thing you told us about that." Celes retorted. "Because she wasn't with us at all while we searched."

"Are you guys kidding me?!" Harakure screamed.

"She insisted we split up to cover more ground," Yamada commented, "and at this point, I think it's safe to assume what half of the floor she covered."

"Dude, it's all coming together!" Hagakure stated proudly. "It had to be Fujisaki man! It's the only explanation!"

"B-Bu-Buuuutt-t-t-t-..." Fujisaki was too choked up to even finish a single word.

If she was really innocent, the tears should've proved that. She cried and sobbed the entire time everyone started accusing her at once. Everyone was starting to doubt her!

Even Naegi didn't know what to do. She must've been taking it all too deeply. Her pupils were dilating the entire time, starring intently at the podium in front of her. It was like Kirigiri said; every minute this trial continued, another piece of Naegi was consumed deeper with despair.

And Kirigiri's chest tightened as she hadn't even revealed her biggest tip off.

"And 4th," she held her fourth finger, "what was actually something far worse than what I just did minutes ago..." Kirigiri claimed.

"W-Wh-What?" Fujisaki stuttered.

"You claim she's made a remark that you find worse than your little act earlier?" Oogami asked with surprise.

"Interesting... I would very much love to hear about this." Celes smiled.

"To be honest, everyone except for Naegi has before," She commented taking a brief glance towards Naegi. "But I doubt anyone would've noticed."

"Heh?" Yamada mumbled. "Chihiro Fujisaki already told us?"

"What did she say?" Asahina asked curiously.

All eyes were on Kirigiri for the brief few moments of silence. Kirigiri herself pondered the results this could end up leaving on Naegi's psyche, but at this point, there was no going back.

If Kirigiri wanted to save everyone and Naegi, then the truth would have to come out. The only pondering question was how she would deal with Naegi's reaction to it.

"Again, I'm sorry Naegi, but this has to happen." Kirigiri said once more. "The one thing you said that caught to me, was this..."

_"B-Bu-But we can't just leave her!" Fujisaki cried. "S-S-She's our friend!"_

"Huh?" Oowada's jaw dropped. "That's the big heart breaker?!"

"Ehhhh...I really don't see what the big problem is here..." Hagakure complained.

"I would be most surprised if there was anything behind those words." Celes added.

"W-Wh-What do you mean?" Fujisaki sniffled. "S-S-She's my friend! My best friend! I meant what I said in those words!"

"Hmph, and so do I." Kirigiri agreed.

"Whaaaaa?!" Yamada yelped. "Now you're taking back your claim?!"

"I never said that." Kirigiri quickly replied, looking back to Fujisaki. "Naegi is my friend too. She's all our friends. But that's not the part that disgusts me." Kirigiri gestured, pointing intensely at Fujisaki. "My problem with what you said is the reasoning behind it."

"Hmm? Reasoning?" Asahina asked.

"You didn't want us to find Naegi at all at that point. You were trying to encourage us to take the chance in the hopes we'd fail and be forced to vote. You wanted to set all ours lives up the entire time!" Kirigiri shouted for the first time.

And like that, everyone else was focused. They couldn't believe the words they heard, but it all made sense. If the killer was Fujisaki, then it would explain the numerous details that lead up to this point.

Beyond that, only the killer would've suggested they throw their lives away in the hopes of getting away with it.

"I...I can't believe you Kirigiri..." Fujisaki muttered. "Ehaahwaaa..." She cried loudly.

There was an unease spreading amongst the trial participants. Even if Fujisaki was the killer, there was a strange sadness that filled the scenery around them.

Fujisaki was the kindest, sweetest girl any of them knew. Her smiles were always the things that brightened up their day. And everyone would feel terrible whenever they made her cry. But here she was now, a killer for her crimes.

And she was taking it...surprisingly well.

For the first time ever, she displayed a wicked, gleeful smile. The light which appeared in one's eyes had completely disappeared from her, leaving her brown eyes slightly hollow and transparent. It was as if she wasn't the same anymore. "You really are a stupid bitch you know that!" She cursed.

It was almost terrifying. Sweet and lovable Chihiro had suddenly cursed someone for the first time, in the midst of a class trial of all things. The fact she cursed someone at all is what got to everyone. It was creepy.

"F-Fujisaki?" Oowada questioned. "Are you ok, kid?"

"Ooohhhhoho..." She breathed heavily rubbing her legs together as if experiencing some form of "pleasure" from this. "Thiisisiisi is truly...truly...stimulating..."

"Ch-Chihiro, are you ok?" Yamada asked worriedly and frightened. Fujisaki casually stretched as she let out a deep, exhausting, sigh.

"Mmhhhhh ahhhh..." She breathed. "I've never felt sooooo...gooooood..." She chuckled.

"W-What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ishimaru yelled, terrified by the sudden "transformation".

"Mmmhh...I think I'm getting turned on a bit from this...feeling..." Fujisaki admitted tapping her lip. "I've never felt so wonderful before." She said as she looked around to everyone.

"Everyone one of you here...versus poor, defenseless, Chihiro..." She began trailing off. "The ultimate fighter...the ultimate biker leader...The girl who can swim like a mermaid...the ultimate gambler...the ultimate moral compass...and you Kirigiri, the mysterious girl who seems to have all the answers when needed." She paused as she reached Yamada and Hagakure. "...I could really care less about you two...

"**Whaaaat?!**" They both shattered on the inside as their souls cried endlessly.

"Are you confessing to your crimes then, Fujisaki?" Oogami asked with her arms crossed.

"Hahahhaaa..." Fujisaki took a deep breath as she laughed. "Nnnnnno."

"No? Even after all this evidence, you still deny it?" Ishimaru questioned.

"Well of course I do. It's just...after all this time, I'm the one being ganged upon. I'm the one being feared, cornered, yet it takes all of you at once to do so. I feel...so...sooooo strong..." She turned her gaze back to Naegi.

"You won't have to worry Naegi," Fujisaki completely ignored all else it seemed, "I'll fix your little mess here." She commented. She turned her attention back to Kirigiri. "So Kiri," Fujisaki began, not even using her full last name, "you say I'm the one who killed Togami, and now, thanks to Naegi's input, killed him in the Weight Room?"

"That's correct." Kirigiri replied crossing her arms. She knew they were starting to see a more confident Fujisaki. It was going to get bad.

"Wow...what a stunning theory." Fujisaki retorted with a sarcastic tone. "But there's one little thing that's bothering me..." She added tapping her chin.

"What's that?" Kirigiri wished to know.

Fujisaki was a Super Duper High School Programmer. Kirigiri would not take her lightly.

"Well, aside from the whole thing of course, let's focus on Naegi for the moment, shall we?" She suggested. "Now let's say I "did" kill Togami in the weight room. The end. Did you forget how Naegi was attacked after?" Fujisaki reminded.

Kirigiri was glad she was not underestimating this trial. Fujisaki seemed prepared for everything. Even the climax. Her gaze turned to the back of Naegi's head, still seeing the blotch where the blood had dried.

It was surprisingly easier to notice now that Naegi, who's sadness only grew, was on her knees staring at the ground.

All that mattered though was that Kirigiri knew what Fujisaki was referring to when she mentioned the injury. And it did present a problem.

"You're referring to how she was struck, yes?" Kirigiri asked for confirmation. Fujisaki gave her one of her typical, sweet, sincere smiles. But now there was something..."off" when she did it from this point.

"Always the bright one, huh? But it's true when you think about it." Fujisaki replied.

"Would you two mind filling us in here?" Asahina asked.

"I believe it's quite simple." Celes commented. "Fujisaki is simply asking, if she did end up killing Togami, and attacked Naegi immediately upon exiting the women's Weight room, then how did she get behind Naegi to begin with?" Celes explained.

"But it doesn't mean Fujisaki is telling the truth. I'm starting to believe Naegi's and Kirigiri's words that the body was moved from there." Oogami believed.

"Oh, I get it too Sakura. Buuuut what if there was a third possibility we've been missing here?" Fujisaki suggested.

Kirigiri bit her lip, thinking she knew what was coming.

"Like, if all this played out like Kirigiri suggested, and all of this was set up from trying to catch A culprit, not THE culprit..." Fujisaki trailed off with a sly grin directed at Kirigiri.

"You wouldn't..." Kirigiri whispered to herself.

"Then, isn't it only likely that there had to be someone else in the same weight room at the same time as Naegi?" Fujisaki hinted.

"Are you suggesting this was Kirigiri's doing?" Celes wondered twirling her hair.

"...Hey uhhh..." Hagakure muttered. "Not that I'm officially agreeing with Fujisaki or anything, buuut that would explain something that's bothering me." All eyes focused back to him, obviously except for Naegi's. "How exactly did Kirigiri know where Nag's was located?"

Fujisaki brightened up. "Why, that's a very good question there, Hagakure. I never would've thought about bringing that up."

"Hehe, I have my moments." He cheered, happy with himself, as he rubbed under his nose.

"Hagakure, I believe I made my previous point clear when I mentioned the two suitcases from earlier." Oogami commented. Fujisaki looked to her curiously.

"But Oogami, don't you think it's just as possible Kirigiri brought them there and stuffed Naegi into the suitcase to frame me? You didn't remember to check the second suitcase I had full of weights, remember?" Fujisaki reminded.

"That...actually does make a little bit of sense." Ishimaru agreed.

Oogami stared silently at her for a few seconds before turning away. "Regardless I will stand by my beliefs. I will side with Kirigiri."

"Despite the sudden turnabout, I think I shall side with her as well." Celes said. "She has been rather on top of things for the most part.

"Errrr..." Yamada frantically began wiping the sweat forming from his forehead. "I... I think I'll wait to see who's majority here...there's too much pressure." He whined.

"Umm...I-I'd like a minute or two to think here please..." Asahina requested.

"Huh, funny..." Fujisaki chuckled. "Then that's 3 for 3. And I don't think Naegi or Fukawa will be in any position to vote anytime soon. So that means our tie breaker will have to be...?" Fujisaki gestured her attention towards Oowada, who could only look to the side with an uneasy feeling on his face.

"Oowada?" Celes guessed.

"Of course," Fujisaki tapped her chin, "although...I think he might be considering voting towards Kirigiri..." She smirked.

"What would make you think that?" Oogami asked in confusion.

"Well, see...he made a...certain promise the other day, and the only way he could break that promise is by voting against me. Buuut then that would break his Man's honor towards me, isn't that right?" Fujisaki hinted. Oowada could only grumble inwardly as he squeezed his fist angrily.

"I can't...I just can't!" Oowada grumbled. Despite not showing it, Kirigiri grew worried with this.

"Oowada...please, I need you to confess to the truth as well." Kirigiri pleaded. Oowada looked at her with much surprise.

"W-What? You know?" He asked. Kirigiri closed her eyes as she smiled.

"I've had... a few clues related to the truth as well. But I won't convince anyone if you don't confess as well." Kirigiri stated.

Oowada could only look away as he grumbled. He couldn't. He just couldn't.

Breaking a Man's honor is the lowest dignity a man can sink to. There were so many meanings behind a man's honor, that even he knew Kirigiri didn't know. And knowing something Kirigiri didn't seem to know was rather saying something.

But at the same time, he felt it was wrong. His gut agreed with him, but he just couldn't bring his mind to cooperate. It was like he was holding a rope that was connected to a bus of children, while he was holding a similar one in the other. If he didn't choose one, it would hurt the other.

He knew what he had to do. And it was regrettable.

"I'm...sorry." He apologized with a huff. Kirigiri could only close her eyes as she looked down.

"I guess that's your answer then..." She commented.

"It's alright Kirigiri. No one can ask you to do anything better than your best. Just know that-"

"The deal's off, kid." Oowada exclaimed. Fujisaki paused, her hollowed eyes never changing their expression, as she looked towards him.

"...Hm?" She mumbled.

"I have to...To keep another promise I made..." Oowada replied, slowly looking back to Naegi herself. "I owe her one."

For those who were currently sided with Kirigiri, her whole group directed their attention towards Naegi. Even Kirigiri couldn't figure out what he was referring to.

"Oh...really? Are you suuure you want to do that?" Fujisaki poked her chin again as she went into thought. "I mean, it would be reeeeally bad if someone found out what you tried to do last night..." She mumbled.

Ishimaru's attention instantly caught on. "W-Wait, last night?" He quickly looked back to Oowada uneasily. "Bro, what is he talking about? What happened?"

"Yes, what did happen, Oowada?" Celes asked curiously. Oowada's expression tightened as he clenched his teeth.

"Gehhhh...I...I almost...I almost killed Fujisaki last night." He revealed.

...

...

A/N: Ok I know this is a rather abrupt end, but freaking lorey (whoever that is) I've literally been up since 1AM this morning, apparently insomnia or something, and working on this for like the last 5 hours alone. I'm tired, feeling sluggish, and more importantly, I wanted to rap up the trial here.

You can take heart in knowing I won't actually end it here- I'll finish up the other 1/3 by tom and post it with this one, and post it as an entire chp so you guys can get the updates ^^.

As always, to encourage more and frequent updates, continue to leave a like and a review if you would. And prepare for many needed explanations tomorrow...


	4. Murders and Revelations! Trial End

Yeaaaah, for those who already read this half with the full one, I decided to splt the chapter in to 2 pieces after all. I mean seriously, do you want to read 13K words in one chapter and have to look back each time to find where you left off?...seriously do you? Cause if you do, I'll go back and keep it at 13k ^^ otherwise, i'll shorten it for convenience sake XP enjoy ^^! Leaves right off where I made my recent changes...

"Gehhhh...I...I almost...I almost killed Fujisaki last night." He revealed.

Everyone turned to shock at the sudden confession they heard. Oowada, admitting he was about to kill one of their fellow classmates, right in front of the rest of them?! Even for the sake of keeping a promise, he couldn't have been serious!

At least, Ishimaru hoped.

"I...With the motive from yesterday swirling in my head, I... My head was swirling around with confusion, and stress. I started getting a headache, or something, I don't know!" Oowada yelled angrily squeezing his fist. "And then...Fujisaki...I-If I didn't hear the sudden banging coming from the room over, I wouldn't have stopped! F-Fujisaki would've been killed." With each passing memory of said moment, he squeezed his fists tighter and tighter.

"But what does that have to do with Fujisaki last night?" Yamada asked in confusion. Oowada's brow twitched as he was about to reveal the truth.

"Remember how Naegi was attacked from behind?" He paused once more, about to break a promise for the first time. "The attacker wouldn't have come from the girl's Weight Room because-"

"I surrender." Were the two words which quickly came from Chihiro Fujisaki's mouth.

"Huh?!" There were gasps all around directed at Fujisaki. It was enough to quickly make Ishimaru and Hagakure switch sides, but it didn't get rid of their confusion to be perfectly fair.

Even Oowada was confused at her sudden statement. She had no benefit by NOT having Oowada confess the truth. She was about to lose everything, even her life, and instead of getting payback, even a little, she suddenly prevented him from finishing his sentence.

"Fu-...Fujisaki...?" He stuttered. For the first time since she "transformed", she actually had light brought back into eyes...and tears.

Yet, she still smiled.

"It's fine. I don't need to prolong this anymore." She replied, turning her attention back to the rest of the group. "I actually feel a little stronger...even through the last 12 hours that passed, I'm not afraid anymore." She smiled brightly, but the tears never stopped pouring.

"F-Fujisaki..." Asahina said quietly. Whatever she was getting to, it was putting everyone except Oowada, Kirigiri, Fukawa, and Naegi, on edge.

"It's ok," Fujisaki said as she started to carefully pull the top of skirt up," I'm tired of hiding anyway. For once, I want to be the strong one..." She added as her secret was revealed.

Many an eye bulged out at once.

**"You're a guy?!"** They shouted in surprise.

Oowada was the most surprise at this point. It was Fujisaki's greatest and deepest secret. For her to reveal something like that…it made him stronger. Even stronger than him. He could never admit to his own weakness, not after what he did in years past. He felt himself being more envious of Fujisaki's strength once more. Only this time, he was envious for another reason of him.

If he hadn't suddenly revealed his secret, Oowada would've been forced to and break his Man's Honor he made before hand to him the night before. And Fujisaki suddenly kept him from breaking his Man's Honor by surrendering himself to everyone else, and Oowada knew he did so on purpose.

Fujisaki was stronger than he could ever be.

"AHHHHAHAHHAHAHAA! What a stunning revelation!" Monokuma shouted excitedly. "And with that, tiiiiiiiime's up!" He announced.

"Are you kidding me?!" Hagakure screeched.

"You expect me to vote after my dreams have just been crushed right in front of me?!" Yamada cried.

"Hmhmhm," Fujisaki giggled, "it's alright. I killed Togami. I'll explain the rest after." He promised.

At this remark, Fukawa stood at attention with perfect stillness.

"Good!" Monokuma cheered. "Then please cast your votes into the ballots located in front of you! Who will be tonight's villain?! Will it be right? Or will it be oh so wrong...?"

Everyone else was still disturbed by the scene before them, but hastily made their selection. For those siding with Chihiro, there was still a sense of disbelief that she killed Togami, but that was mostly overshadowed by the now apparent fact that Fujisaki was a guy.

To many of them, it brought great shock. To Yamada, it brought a strange, twistedness that one could only feel when their dreams are completely shattered into pieces.

But that didn't prevent the class from making their vote. One by one, the ballots were tallied and the votes were casted. Everyone, despite their feelings, made a vote.

All except one. The same student who was frozen with despair, as tears rolled down her cheeks and of her face. Kirigiri looked to her with regret.

"Naegi...I know it hurts, but..." Even the master detective that she was, she couldn't find what words to say.

"C'mon Nags," Hagakure said, "it'll hurt less once you get it over with. I promise...maybe..." Hagakure rubbed his chin in thought.

*whomp*

"Ow!" He yelped, rubbing his sore arm from where Asahina punched it.

Naegi steadily brought her tearful face up. "W-Wh-What...? Y-You want me to vote...?" She asked like she had no idea what was going on. She tucked her head between her knees as she began squeezing her own head. "W-Who do you want me to v-v-vote for? W-We don't ev-even know who the culprit is."

It was pure denial.

"Better hurry Naaaaegiiiii," Monokuma teased, "if you don't vote soon, you may get penaliiiiiiized...Upupu..." He chuckled.

"V-Vote...?" Naegi repeated. Her whole body shook from the mere thought. "I...I-I c-can't...can't..." She tried looking at her own hands in front of her face. Even they were shaking uncontrollably. "I-I-I c-can't...m-move..." She cried.

Kirigiri groaned on the inside. She was about to bare witness to what her actions will have caused for poor Naegi.

"Tiiiiiiiiiiiiick tooooooooock..." Monokuma warned, holding a cartoonish and oversized pocket watch which he waved back and forth.

Kirigiri knew this wasn't going to end well, and quickly walked over to Naegi's side to kneel down. "C'mon Naegi, if you survived an attack you can survive this." She encouraged. Like before when she was helping her to her feet, after being knocked out for so long, she steadily and gently grabbed hold of her in both her arms, slowly, with some speed, rising her up again.

it was just like before when Naegi could barely move after waking up. Her whole body felt heavy as she continued to slump. Not only that, but Kirigiri could actually feel Naegi's heart racing from the hand in front of her chest. She was really having a hard time.

"N-No...please..." Naegi begged, showing no signs of resistance, yet barely moving either. Kirigiri gave her a soft smile as she grabbed hold of her right hand.

"It's alright, things will be ok." She assured in a soft tone.

The others looked on at their friend with worry. For Naegi to be truly having such a hard to with simply pressing a button...it really must've been a bad sign. For Naegi, it indefinitely was.

Steadily, with Kirigiri's hand atop of Naegi's, she gently grasped it as she lead it over to the mechanical ballot itself. With each nearing inch, Kirigiri noticed an increase resistance coming from Naegi. But the facts were facts.

Naegi had no choice.

"N-No-No, please...I...I don't want to..." She teared up, her pupils dilating more aggressively with each passing moment. she shut her eyes tightly as she bit her lips. "I...I really don't want to...I DON'T WANT TOOOOO!" She cried, turning her head away. Kirigiri only continued to smile softly as she gently wiped the tears away Naegi's eyes.

"I know Naegi, I know..." She replied.

And with a press of the button, the vote was cast.

"None of us want to..."

***ding***

***ding***

***ding***

**Chihiro Fujisaki: Guilty!**

…

…

"Upupupu! Congratulations on your second trial guys!" Monokuma shouted. "You were absolutely right!"

"W-What? Seriously?!" Hagakure was still in disbelief.

"Yes! Sir! E! Tonight's villain was none other than Fujisaki her- Oops! I mean _him_self." Monokuma replied bursting into laughter. "Ahahahaha! I bet nobody saw that coming!"

"N-No, it's not true!" Naegi cried. Kirigiri was surprised as she quickly got back to her own feet, running up to Fujisaki. "T-Tell them the truth!" She begged, holding onto Fujisaki's shoulders. "You didn't kill him! Tell me that!" Fujisaki shifted his eyes away from Naegi, giving off an uneventful silence.

"…" Naegi's face poured with tears, perhaps more so than if Fujisaki had said something.

"I-I know it's not true!" She sniffled. "I-I-If that was the case, t-then the one who attacked me was…" Naegi shook her head fiercely before forcing herself to smile up to Fujisaki, even as the tears continued to pour. "W-Wait, I g-get it," She said trying to sound cheerful, " y-you were trying to prot-tect me, r-right?" Fujisaki shifted his eyes back to her while turning her head away. "Y-You knew what was going to happen, s-so you tried to hide me so Monokuma couldn't find me when you won, right? Or something?" She hoped.

"Naegi…" Kirigiri whispered. She could tell that at this point the only one Naegi was hurting was herself. And she still couldn't help but feel partly to blame.

"Come on, just tell me it!" She squeezed Fujisaki's shoulders tighter. "Even if it's a lie, just let me hear it!" She begged. Fujisaki continued staring at the depressed girl in front of her for a few seconds, seeing the tears flowing from her eyes. Naegi's hopes began to shine brighter as saw her best friend smiling at her, even with her eyes glazed over.

Her shine would quickly dim after.

"I'm sorry Naegi, but I didn't care much about what happened to you." He revealed. Naegi's eyes widened as her heart deeply shattered. "To be honest, you were just in the way at the time," he began as he gently pulled Naegi's hands off her, " and I was still stunned after what I did." She turned back to Naegi with a strange, solemn, smile as she rubbed her fingertips. "You were the only one who discovered the real location of the crime scene after all. Plus…I couldn't really afford to have you turn around immediately after."

"I'm willing to bet after you committed the crime, you were in a daze and walked backwards into the Men's Weight Room." Celes suggested with curiosity. "Am I wrong?"

"Hmhm, your spot on." Fujisaki giggled.

"And because you were a man," Oogami began commenting, "I take it you attacked her from lunging out of the men's Weight room. It wouldn't too difficult to sneak up on her since I doubt she would've expected an attack from right behind her, especially from you in the men's are."

"Which you managed to get into in the first place since you were a guy, right?" Hagakure added.

Another piece of Yamada's soul shattered from his crushed dreams.

Fujisaki confirmed this with a slight bow.

"All of which are accurate statements." Fujisaki replied. He turned her attention back to Kirigiri. "Which reminds me, I have two important questions to ask you, Kirigiri." He stated.

"Yes?" She wondered.

"How exactly did you discover I was a man?" She asked, poking her chin. Kirigiri gave a simple smile.

"You can actually thank Oowada for that." She replied. Oowada flinched at the sudden statement.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" He asked.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this yourself, Oowada, but whenever you referred to Fujisaki, you always referred to her as "kid". And each time you would refer to a girl as a "chick", while you would only refer to a boy as "kid"." Kirigiri explained.

"You noticed such a minuscule detail?!" Yamada's eyes bugged out.

"Tch, so that's why…" Oowada muttered looking away.

To have a large piece of the trial solved just because of one little "misspeak" was just too ridiculous to him. Yet, it proved to save the day in the end of it all.

"Huh…I guess Oowada did partly break his promise after all…" Fujisaki muttered.

"And your second question" Kirigiri asked for.

"Ah yes, about that. How exactly did you know Naegi was in Togami's room when we investigated awhile ago? She could've been just about anywhere in the school, yet you picked the right one out of all of them. It seems too much to just be blind luck." He questioned. Kirigiri crossed her arms as she faced away.

"There actually was a bit of luck involved," Kirigiri revealed, "but to be honest, it seemed like the best hiding place for the killer." She turned back towards him. "I had a feeling whoever killed Togami would've also taken his key with them. What better place to hide something than somewhere only one person can get to?" Kirigiri took a moment to see how Naegi was holding up. As expected, despite remaining silent, the tears continued to rain from her face.

"That reminds me, Fujisaki," Oogami interrupted, "why exactly did you leave both suitcases in Togami's room the whole time? The ones with the weights in them gave away who the killer was to me. But I still do't understand why."

"Oh, that? That was actually a bit of bad luck on my part." Fujisaki admitted. "Believe it or not, I actually did have a few weights in the one Naegi was kept in. I would've taken one out to show you if you wanted proof again. As for leaving them in Togami's room, that was outside my control. I was going to take the weights outside of the suitcase Naegi was in and then put them in the other one the weights were in to make it look like I only had one suitcase I've been using. Unfortunately by the time I finished taking out the weights, Monokuma's announcement went off saying we were out of time. So I just quickly zipped the bag back up with Naegi inside, in case she woke up, so she couldn't get away. Then I placed it in the corner of the room between the wall and dresser."

He took a deep breath to relax as she let the rest of them sink this information in. As he was about to continue, Celes looked down at his hands as she noticed him rubbing them again. "It would've been the perfect place too. Even on the unlikely chance she got loose from her bonds, she wouldn't be able to break out of it since the openings were pressed against the wall and the dresser. Too bad she didn't die either, because she proved too much of a nuisance for me in the end." She added.

At this point Naegi finally broke down into sobs as she collapsed onto her hands and knees. Here Fujisaki was, revealing to her everything that she didn't want to hear. To make the matter worse, he kept adding small details and bits which were all related to how Fujisaki getting discovered was because of her own confession earlier.

It wasn't just sadness from Fujisaki's words that were breaking her. To her, she felt like she was the blame. Because of her words and confession, she suddenly sent her best friend on death row. She killed her best friend just because she fell for on simple act on Kirigiri's behalf. And it didn't even matter if Kirigiri set it up, because she was still the one to reveal it.

*WHAP!*

All eyes turned to Fujisaki who had a race mark against his let cheek. He turned to Asahina who was glaring at him with intense hate.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She shouted. "You were Naegi's best friend, and you just went ahead and betrayed her just like that?! She trusted you!" She yelled angrily. Naegi looked up as her tears began to slow down, watching as Asahina stood up for her like that.

As for Fujisaki, he simply smirked as he rubbed his fingertips again. "You think I care about any of that?" He was very blunt about his contempt for Naegi. "I never really wanted her or anything to do with her. I just didn't bother killing her too because I would've had two dead bodies to deal with at the same time if I did. In fact, sometimes I sort of wished I just went with my gut and finished her off in Togami's room like I planned to. It would've been simple since she was so defenseless, I would've just had to smother her with a pillow or-"

"You're lying." Celes stated walking forward. Everyone's attention, even Naegi's, shifted to Celes as she spoke. Fujisaki's eyes widened slightly.

"W-Wha- No I'm not!" He quickly spoke. "I-I mean look how this turned out for me! Why would I want to keep her alive after everything she screwed up for me?!"

"…You're very bad at lying, Fujisaki." Celes commented, looking down at Fujisaki's hands again. "Kirigiri isn't the only one who can notice the little signs people give off." She pointed directly to Fujisaki's hands. "Every time you bring up Naegi in your little story, you begin to unconsciously squeeze and rub your fingertips together. It doesn't take a genius to understand you're lying about your feelings." She said.

"H-He's…lying?" Naegi wobbly stood up as she looked back to him. "F-Fujisaki…is it true?"

For once, Fujisaki actually frowned as he looked away from Naegi, causing more anxiety for the broken girl. "

"T-Tell me…" Naegi grabbed him by the shoulders again. "Please…j-just tell me, why are you lying?"

Fujisaki couldn't bring himself to continue the charade anymore. His last plan had finally failed, and there was no denying it anymore. With a great breath, he looked back to Naegi and gave her a sincere smile. Naegi finally smiled a small bit to this.

"I-"

*_SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-SKA-Shem!_* (I suck at sound effects)

There was a sudden silence that filled the air. Everyone froze with their mouths gaped in horror at the sight they just witnessed. It was indescribable for words. Everything seemed to be frozen in time as everyone looked at the sight before them.

What's worse was for Naegi, who had a personal front-up view of the sudden experience. She couldn't help but blink as she suddenly pulled her hands away from Fujisaki's shoulders. The only sound anyone heard for awhile was the sound of dripping water, only it wasn't.

For awhile, Naegi just stood there, motionless, looking at her hands. The smell of fresh pink blood was still upon them as she stared. She couldn't tell if her whole hand was shaking or if her fingertips were moving, but those were the only things that were. The blood continued to drip more and more with each passing heartbeat. It was just so sudden. Nobody saw it coming! Nobody was even expecting it! But it happened anyway.

It wasn't just on her hands either. Droplets of it were on Naegi's cheek, lines of splattered blood were scattered across her hoodie and pants, and a puddle of it forming around Naegi's legs as it grew in size. Practically everywhere around her, there was blood.

But none of it was Naegi's.

She slowly looked up, peering into Fujisaki's now-hollow eyes. If there was any life in him left, it was almost immediately diminished as he let out a final, weak gasp for air. All around her body, there were multiple slash marks across her, leaving nothing but bloodstained trails from where the open wounds were.

On his arms and legs, blood seeped endlessly as it pooled around her feet, gathering in size. Even from her own head, there was a bit of blood that continued to seep to the floor. It looked almost as if it would never stop! It just kept coming, and coming.

And his neck was where the most prominent of his injury was noticed. On his neck, not just one, but two scissors were suddenly protruding out his neck. They indefinitely were the cause of the latent pool that was still forming. It was definitely the most fatal addition of the injury.

With one sudden pull, the scissors came out, right through Fujisaki's neck. The swiftness of it was pure, but blood splattered out straight in front of Fujisaki's neck, covering over her eyes.

Naegi panicked briefly before quickly wiping her eyes clean, wanting to look back to see if what she saw was reality or some pure delusion. Her vision was briefly blurry from the sudden wash of pink blood that washed over her face, but quickly began to clear up with time.

From what she could see, a blurry figure in front of her collapsed to the side, the assumption being it was Fujisaki. In it's place, as Naegi's vision finally cleared, she saw her; a long tongued girl with the eyes of a killer, and the very same one which were used on Fujisaki just moments ago. It stared at her with pure, deep, gaze, smiling wickedly as it did.

"AHHHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAA!" It cackled loudly. "Hey all ya bitches and asses! Who wants to get fucked next! Your friendly neighborhood homicidal Genocider Shou is heeeeeeere! " She clacked her scissors together, setting off a faint glow of light among them for an instant.

". . ." Naegi began to tremble as she slowly looked back down at Fujisaki, who lied dead at her feet. Not breathing, not living, a face filled with extreme horror and blood. And it was sickening.

"Oogohhpphphhhh!" Naegi gagged as her stomach lurched through her mouth. She collapsed to the ground as she covered her mouth, doing nothing to keep the vomit from escaping though. "Cuughhouuhgh!" She puked, her hands overfilling from what she was trying to keep inside, oozing out of the sides of her palm dripping on the floor.

"Naegi!" Asahina yelled worriedly, kneeling to her side as she patted her back softly. She held onto her shoulder just in case, with Naegi looking like she could collapse at any moment.

"W-What the-?" Oowada stuttered. Everyone was frozen with fear as the killer herself simply looked at Naegi, who was currently coughing her lungs (and food) out.

"Yeesh, what's her problem?" The killer asked, having absolutely no tolerance or sympathy for the person she just finished killing.

"W-What the fuck?!" Oowada screamed. "Who the hell are you?" The killer smiled, maybe, at him.

"Didn't ya hear me just now? I'm your friendly neighborhood homicidal Genocider Shou!" She replied.

"WHAAAAAAAAT!" Yamada screeched in fear, shaking endlessly.

"Y-You serious dude!?" Hagakure backed away slowly, not wanting to near who could potentially kill him next. "Y-You're Genocider, Fukawa?!"

"AHHAHAHHAAA!" Shou laughed madly. "Don't compare me to that pansy! Miiiiss gloomy there isn't anywhere close to being me! I'm one-hundred percent Genocider, one-hundred percent Shou, and zero percent Fukawa!"

"Blluuurrhghhahhh..." Naegi continued barfing to the side catching Shou's attention.

"And I think you're one-hundred percent barf." She commented. "I'mma name you Pukey!"

"H-Her personalities are...completely different..." Ishimaru examined trembling.

Oowada glared back to Monokuma, who simply seemed to be enjoying the sight in front of him. "D-Dude, do something!"

"Hmm?" Monokuma rubbed his chin. "What you want me to do?"

"W-What the fuck do you think?!" Oowada shouted. "S-She just killed Fujisaki! Do something!"

"Mmmmh...Nope." He replied, much to Oowada's surprise.

"What?!"

"Weeeeeeeeell, for starters, she isn't technically a student here, the other one is." Monokuma replied. "Plus, it waaaaaaaaas Fujisaki's execution time anyway, and I found it easier to just let her do all the work. Saves me the time and energy!"

"You saw her and didn't do anything?" Oogami grumbled angrily.

"Well what do ya want me to do? I already broke one rule for someoooooone's convenience," Monokuma gestured, looking at Kirigiri, "so I thought, hey, why not break one for mine? Haha!" He laughed.

"T-This is just wrong man..." Hagakure moaned.

"If it makes ya feel any better, I'm the one stuck cleaning up after Naegi's little leftovers on the floor." Monokuma teased, noticing the amount of gruel and slime pouring from Naegi's mouth.

"Sides, SOMEONE had to die!" Genocider Shou exclaimed. "After all, my White Knight was offed by this ass, so if it wasn't him, I would've had to **done**-in someone else!" She sneered.

"Hmm, you're quite like the killer I've read about." Celes noted. "Although...I never would've expected you to be a split personality, or Fukawa." Genocider Shou simply grinned to her.

"Hey, always the gal ya least expect! Ahahahhaaa! So where does a gal like me get some grub 'round here?"

...

...

...

"I can't get over how fucked up that was..." Oowada commented leaning back in his chair.

The class had finally found themselves in the lunchroom, directly after the trial that night. There was a mix of emotions flurrying around the place that night, most of which were heavy and unsettling. Even silence within the room was unsettling.

"I still can't believe...Fujisaki?" Ishimaru was dumbfounded. "I-I mean how could she bring herself to murder Togami?"

"Maybe it was a heat of the moment sort of thing?" Hagakure suggested. He scratched the back of his head trying to get his thoughts straight. "I mean I get why you're all skeptical and all, but maybe Togami pushed her too far, ya know? I mean you saw how she- I mean he was after the show...gawww I still can't get the fact she's a he out of my mind."

"I don't think it's necessarily accurate to assume he was simply crazy, Hagakure." Celes brought up. "He was intoxicated."

"Intoxicated?" Oowada questioned with a raised brow.

"You saw how he was when we all came on to him, yes?" Celes reminded.

_"Ooohhhhoho..." She breathed heavily rubbing her legs together as if experiencing some form of "pleasure" from this. "Thiisisiisi is truly...truly...stimulating..."_

_"Ch-Chihiro, are you ok?" Yamada asked worriedly and frightened. Fujisaki casually stretched as she let out a deep, exhausting, sigh. _

_"Mmhhhhh ahhhh..." She breathed. "I've never felt sooooo...gooooood..." She chuckled._

"By my guess, she was drunk with power at the moment." Celes suggested.

"Chihiro Fujisaki got drunk off just that much power?" Yamada asked confused.

"It must have been nearly forever since he ever experienced something so stimulating before in his life. To get so obsessed with such power after coming into contact with such a small amount...It's a little sad when you think about it."

"I'll tell ya what's sad about it- what she did to that Naegi!" Oowada pointed out, leaning up again.

"I must humbly agree with that statement," Ishimaru sided, "with what she experienced before hand already put her on the edge. For everything she had to suffer after is just inexcusable."

"Didn't you already hear me earlier? I said she was lying." Celes said looking back.

"I suppose you have some idea of what his really feelings were, then?" Oogami asked. "With all she put Naegi through, I deem it's a miracle she hasn't ended up like Fukawa."

"Yeah, speaking of which, where is that crazy S.O.B.?" Oowada asked, looking all around.

"That's a weird way to spell soap dude..." Hagakure rubbed his chin.

"It spells SOB you dumbass!" Oowada retorted. "And it means son of a bitch!"

"Then wouldn't it still be S. O. A. B.? That definitely sounds like soap!"

"Gahhh..." Oowada grumbled rubbing his forehead from the headache he started having.

"In response to your question, Oowada," Oogami brought up, "she took the liberty to explore the school before retiring to her own room and slept. I made sure to follow her in case she tried something like before."

"Isn't she gonna kill us in our sleep though?!" Yamada panicked.

"I don't believe so. She went out pretty fast. Besides, everyone should be safe as long as you lock your doors tonight." She recommended.

"Well with that dilemma out of the way, shall we move onto the whole WHY factor?" Hagakure asked. "I really want to know WHY Fujisaki murdered Togami."

"Naaah, who cares?" Oowada mumbled. "The guy was a freaking douche, he had it coming anyway."

"But I am also curious as to how Fujisaki pulled it off." Celes said with intrigue. "After all, one part I still have yet to understand is how Fujisaki pulled the actual murder off. I don't think Fujisaki would've won in a fair fight."

"That's because there wasn't even a fight. It was purely an accident." Kirigiri stated. All eyes focused on her as she leaned up with her elbows on the table, her head being held up by the tips of her hands.

"A-An accident?" Yamada repeated.

"But d-didn't you say he murdered Togami when-" Ishimaru tried speaking.

"I never once said that I believed Fujisaki was a Murderer, only the killer." Kirigiri said cutting him off.

"Well what's the difference dude?" Hagakure scratched his head.

"I already said it. It was purely an accident." Kirigiri rubbed her chin. "Togami must've come into the Weight Room area some time that night..."

_Fujisaki sniffled he rubbed the tears from his own eyes. For Oowada to actually come so close to actually kill him, it was just too much to bare. He knew right at that moment, that at any time, he could be killed, even by the closest of people. And he was to distracted to notice the person in front of him as he stepped out. _

_*thump*_

_"Ow!" Fujisaki rubbed his nose, suddenly colliding into Togami's chest. His eyes narrowed at the sight of yet another person discovering his secret. "Huh!" She gasped._

_Togami could only crack a small grin at the development in front of him. "Hmph, well here's a surprise." He commented pushing his glasses up. _

_"T-T-Togami...Please!" He clasped his hands together. "P-Please don't tell anyone! I-"_

_"Tch, if you're going to beg, you should know I wouldn't accept it even if you were on your knees." He scoffed. "Besides, did you forget by tomorrow our secrets will be exposed anyway?" A sweat formed in the back of Fujisaki's head. _

_"Oh...yeah..." He looked back up to him. "So what are you doing here anyway? Weren't you in the Library?" _

_"Huff, if I must explain myself to you I will, but don't start trying to make a conversation with me." He said sternly. "To make a long story short, I decided to take a small stroll to take a break from all the reading I was doing. And on the way, I happened to find Oowada walking away from room in a glum. I thought something interesting might've happened, but instead I found this..." He explained, eyeing Fujisaki._

_"F-Fun?" Fujisaki asked. Togami grinned for the first time since they started speaking, which worried the young programmer verily much._

_"Yes, fun. Murder." Togami's eyes shined as he said this. Fujisaki's legs began to tremble at Togami's sudden words, suddenly fearing for his own life._

_"M-M-Murder?"_

_"Yes, murder." Togami looked around the room. "I would've had fun "playing" with a crime scene if there was one, but sadly, all I was left with is you." He complained even as he smiled. "Still, I know one way to pique my curiosity once more." He started shuffling his hand into his jacket fishing for something._

_Fujisaki's worry only began to double in size as he suddenly pulled a pair of scissors out of it. However, this fear was quickly replaced with confusion as he was handed the scissors over to._

_"W-What's this?" Fujisaki asked._

_"Tch, please tell me you at least know what a scissor is?" Togami taunted. "I want you to kill me." He requested bluntly. Fujisaki let out a gasp of shock and terror at the request. _

_"W-What?!" Fujisaki was terrified. "Y-You want me to do what?!"_

_"You heard me, so go ahead." He repeated again with a smirk. "Come on now, I'll even lend you a hand." Fujisaki nearly jumped as he grabbed his hands with the scissors in them, pulling his hands closer to Togami's chest until the tip was touching it. "There, now plunge it in." He commanded. _

_Fujisaki could only tremble in fear, his entire body shaking fiercely. Never once had he felt so heavy from the mix of emotions swirling around him. It was suffocating. _

_"I-I-I-I-" Fujisaki kept stuttering, grip never ceasing, yet scissor never moving. Only the tears flowing down his face went on. "I ca-can't..." He mumbled. _

_"Hmhmhm, just as I thought." Togami gloated. "It's because you're weak." This comment caught Fujisaki's attention the most. "It's always people like you...lowly scum who simply plague our society, never doing what you're told yet feeding off our resources. Your very existence puts our lives as a species on hold itself." He insulted. And just as he expected, the tears continued to roll down Fujisaki's face._

_"I-I'm...I'm s-s-sorry..." He sniffled. Togami could only groan from the amount of annoyance this was causing him._

_"Pathetic, truly." He sighed. "I didn't really expect you to anyway. Even if you could do it. I just wanted to enjoy myself for a bit." He extended his hand again. "Just give me back the scissors before you make ME want to hurt myself for wasting time. Perhaps I'll simply find another "player" around here who can do as they're told, like that Oowada punk or Naegi or-" _

_Fujisaki's eyes suddenly lip up in fear again. Togami could only smile as he saw the sudden switch on Fujisaki's face. "Oh, yes, how could I forget? You're good friends with that girl, aren't you?" He started chuckling to himself. "I can't wait to find out her reaction to your secret. I'm even more curious as to her secret as well..."_

_"P-Please d-don't involve her in anything! She's my f-friend!" Fujisaki begged tearfully. _

_"Oh, I know. It'll make things more fun too." He took his glasses off briefly to wipe them with his shirt. "I can already see the wonderful possibilities with her. Perhaps I'll test her to see how well she can preform...Or perhaps, I'll find a way to make HER commit a murder. I'd like to see how she works that out..." He kept putting more and more emphasis on each detail as he knew this was only striking at Fujisaki's heart more and more._

_What a dick!_

_Fujisaki's tears never stopped falling from her eyes, which increased in pace and sorrow as Togami went on. "N-No...not her please! She's one of my closest friends!" Fujisaki begged._

_"Oh, I just had an interesting thought now. There is a third option I could ALSO preform with her..." He eyed scissors with excitement. Fujisaki's heart sank at what he realized Togami's "3rd plan" was. It was too much for her to handle. _

_"N-No..." He muttered. Togami simply chuckled as he grabbed the scissors. But strangely, they wouldn't come out of Fujisaki's hands._

_"Let go." He boldly commanded. _

_"...No." Fujisaki maintained the same composure as he said this. _

_Togami was actually taken back by this reply. "What did you say?" _

_"I... I said no!" Fujisaki said slightly louder, holding onto the scissors tighter. _

_"Hmph, funny." Togami smirked. "But enough jokes, now give me the scissors."_

_"No!"_

_"That wasn't a request, it was an order." Togami started actually TRYING to pull the scissors away with both hands._

_"N-NO!" Fujisaki screeched, struggling to keep the scissors away from him._

_"I said let go of it!" Togami shouted._

_"NOOO!"_

_"I said- Wahhhhh-!" _

_Togami suddenly yelled as the heel of his shoe suddenly slid on the ground, falling to the ground with sudden speed. Fujisaki was so intent on keeping the scissors that she didn't even realize she was falling forward with the scissors with him. _

_Then it happened._

_"_**_Gyaaak-!_**_" _

_The world just seemed to slow down so suddenly as Fujisaki realized what was happening. There he was, scissors gripped in his hands, on top of Togami. Only now, the scissors were plunged deep into his chest, which pierced his heart by this point. _

_Togami had gotten what he asked for._

_The blood coming from his chest and mouth was enough to make him want to scream, but she couldn't. He couldn't feel anything at that point. He could only stand, stepping back until he touched the men's Weight Room door again. That's when he heard from the other room._

_"H-Hello?" Naegi spoke from beyond the door. "Hello? Is someone out there?"_

_Fujisaki was too fazed and scared though to realize who it belonged to. Before it opened, he quickly opened the door to the men's Weight Room again, dashing inside just as Naegi stepped out. _

_He needed a plan. He couldn't just let someone go running about the murder al of a sudden. He was terrified! He was scared! He needed time! And that's when he saw the dumbbell standing a few feet away from him. It was a lightweight one, but still easy enough for him to use._

_And the rest was history..._

"I don't know if they had an argument at first or if something else occurred," Kirigiri went off on her theory, "but I could tell a lot about Fujisaki. He was weak. And it was good for him. And ended up being good for Naegi when he attacked her."

"Wait a minute..." Oowada was at a complete loss here. Not only did he just hear what Kirigiri realized, he couldn't comprehend, whether or not he wanted to, what he was being told. "A-Are...Are you saying we just..."

"C-Chihiro Fujisaki was innocent this whole time?!" Yamada bellowed.

"It was a murder, that's unmistakable." Kirigiri looked down silently. "It just wasn't intentional. Not even what he did to Naegi. Celes was right about him lying. He cared about her until the very end. He even bandaged her wound when he discovered what he did."

"You mean the cloth over her eyes? Wasn't that to blind her?" Oowada questioned.

"I'm sure it was part of the reason. But it was tied tightly over the wound. I'm sure it was to stop the bleeding. He still cared very much about her."

"How can you say that dude?" Hagakure questioned. "Didn't you hear all that stuff at the end?"

"If I may add my opinion," Celes spoke, "I believe he was just trying to make her stronger."

"He had a weird way of showing it." Hagakure gave his opinion.

"You just weren't looking at the bigger picture. If he had left admitting the truth, the pain it would've caused her would have been much more painful for her to know. On top of that, he was trying to convince her not to trust anyone else from that point." Celes explained. "After all, we all trusted Maizono, and later, she used Naegi to try and escape. Do you remember how Naegi was after, especially with the trauma that followed?"

"..."

"..."

"...Man..." Hagakure mumbled rubbing his forehead. "That's just...that's just..."

"Depressing..." Ishimaru finished off slouching in his chair.

"Even I can't help but feel sorry for Fujisaki in the end of things." Celes said, maintaining the same composure despite the unease.

"Which brings me back to my next point," Kirigiri continued as she stood up, "Naegi, no matter what happens from this point, must EVER find out about this." She ruled.

There was no objection to this at all.

"Y-Yeah...agreed." Oowada replied.

"The last we need is another Fukawa to snap like Genocider." Hagaure insisted.

Everyone turned their attention to the lunchroom door as they heard Asahina entering with a deep breath of exhaustion.

"Huuuff..." She sighed.

"So? How is she?" Oowada asked with some worry.

Asahina frowned slightly as she looked down. "Well, after she stopped throwng up, I managed to help her wash off of Fujisaki's blood in the public bath awhile ago-"

"Hmm? Could you be needing some assistance for the next time-" Yamada started with interest. It simply took Oogami's massive hand on his skull to make him stop completely. "N-Never mind..." He sweated.

Asahina continued. "As I was saying, after that I helped her to bed and tried to talk to her a bit. But she just looked away the entire time and cried silently. I also left her a little snack in case she got hungry, and a bucket in case...you know."

Kirigiri bit her lip a bit. She knew it was going to be bad, but she still hated herself for her contribution to Naegi's pain. She guaranteed she would never try anything so sly again.

"She needs time to herself." Kirigiri told everyone. "Don't approach her on your own unless she comes to you. All of us need to give her space..."

And she was right about that. There was only Naegi, who couldn't even sleep as he just continued starring off the side of her bed. It was the worst feeling imaginable- Pure Emptiness. There wasn't any joy, no regret, no anything. Only depression and sadness in it's purest form. Her eyes were still wet with tears, which came down every now and then.

She needed something at that moment. Something other than a barf bucket next to her bed, which she only used once since Asahina left. A prayer, a sign. Just anything at that moment.

She needed someone who would truly stay by her side.

One who wouldn't betray her.

...

...

... ... ...

_"Upupupu, would ya look at that? Each time she gathers any amount of hope in her little heart, it shatters like glass! Haha, it's so halari-_

_*WHAP!*_

_"Ouch!" The mysterious figure rubbed their head. "Hey, no attacking the headmaster! That rule nearly got you killed to begin with, remember?"_

_"No, YOU nearly got me killed, backstabber..." The second mysterious figure grumbled. The first figure simply swayed their arms to their side._

_"Whaaaat, you still mad about all that? C'mon, I had to give 'em a warning shot first, didn't I?"_

_"Well why the hell did it have to be me?!"_

_"Eesh, touchy, touchy. It wouldn't be fair if I did it on one of the fresh 'newbies' ya know."_

_"Yeah, but you nearly killed me, remember?!"_

_"Oh, nearly is just a harsh wooooord...I avoided any internals, didn't I?"_

_"Yeah, like inches apart from each other..."_

_"And at least Maizono was kind enough to donate the blood. Upupupu Ehahahahaha!" the figure cackled. Their joy and fun was only temporary as the second figure continued giving it the evil eye._

_"Jeez, would you stop glarin' at me like that? You make me feel like some kind of criminal...Upupu..."_

_"Huuuufff..." The second groaned. _

_"Ooohhh I hate seeing my favorite person so maaaad..." It whined tapping it's fingers. "Ok, I'll tell ya what. I'll give you one favor of anything you want while you're in there." It promised. The other shadowy figure actually looked at the pervious with more ease._

_"...Of any favor I choose, anytime I want it?" It asked._

_"As long as it doesn't involve leaving this place or my identity, then yes!'_

_"...Huff," it sighed, "ok ok, I'll forgive you." It said, giving the other a slight hug._

_"Atta girl..." The figure commented before returning to the monitors. "Although, to be honest, I don't see what you want with these kinds of people." It commented, sipping from it's nearby drink. The other figure kneeled down for a closer look at one of the monitors._

_"It's not them I want." It stated, tenderly swiping one monitor which displayed the currently troubled Naegi who continued to weep. "All I want... is her."_

...

...

...

A/N: Hoofta! Behold the completed version of what I had started yesterday! Now no one look at me like that- I FREAKING LOVED FUJISAKI X*! I mean sure I was crying under my desk for a week after I discovered her deep dark secret, but he was still loveable X in fact my only complaint about him is that it's a freaking PAIN going from using "her/she" all the time and suddenly switching to "he/him"- I can not tell you the number of times I had to redo a sentence because of that XP

But seriously! IT TORE ME UP X! Now not to worry, I don't plan on making this a 100% dark series. Fact, I promise it'll start getting happier after this. I mean sure people will still die, but there will be less dark moments and all.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go hang myself for a few minutes from how depressing I found this X...


	5. News for Updates!

p style="text-align: center;"Hey guys! Whats up ? It seems the first four chaps of this story has gone on rather well ^^! With the seeming popularity of my fic, and which is hopefully not just me suffering from a delusional state, I decided to leave you guys with a choice! I'm wondering if you guys would like for me to do my version of the opening chapters and stuff so i can clear the books and say this is not a direct copy of Klonoadream's fanfic. Now you dont have to worry, I'm not saying I'm starting ALL OVER AGAIN, i'm just saying I'll do the first chapter of the story since I've yet to actually get to it yet. /p  
>p style="text-align: center;" p  
>p style="text-align: center;"Leave your answers in the review (along with a rev of my fic so I can tell what you guys think so far ^^) If there's a good number of votes, I'll do the first chapter from the game (the Maizono + Kuwata case), otherwise, I'll continue on from where we are now. Just note I will eventually get to the first chapter either way, but depending on whether I do it now or later will determine how soon I manage to get to it. So with that, review and tell your friends! p  
>p style="text-align: center;"Ps: if anyone does help advertise my work + revs, I'll create a bonus chapter for some sceneshenanigan you'd like to see within the story ^^!/p 


	6. New Student Mukuro Ikusaba

A/N: Ok what the heck people! I get tons of nice reviews and favs from people who are becoming fans of this series and everything, and I enjoy that and all. However, one thing I just recently discovered on my own, WHY WAS NO ONE TELLING ME I WAS SPELLING OWADA'S NAME INCORRECTLY XD!? Seriously, I went on like 4 chaps thus far, spelling it like Oogami's name but spelling it as "Oowada"- i always had a strange feeling something was wrong with the name but no one would say anything XP Lol, ok so from now on, if I keep making a mistake (not including spelling mistakes like misspelling "their" as "there", but ones i do repeatedly like spelling Oowada FREAKING Owada XD!

*sigh* Ok, so now back to the fanfic ^^!

The laundry room, the place where everything could be clean within an hour or so.

Makoto Naegi, the girl who was curled up in her panties and night shirt against the wall who was slightly embarrassed beyond belief.

Naegi's bed sheets, the thing swirling around in the washing machine...along with her night pants.

It wasn't too surprising to be honest, but after all the stress she had grown to and all the trauma she had suffered, she had obviously wet the bed.

It wasn't entirely her fault to say the least. With all she's gone through and all the stomach pangs she's suffered from throwing up occasionally throughout the night, it obviously numbed her sense of feelings a bit. Plus, the ensuing nightmare she had the night before didn't really help.

She really, really, doesn't want to go over the details of it again, even in her head, due to how horrifying she found it. She was in the middle of nowhere, in pure pitch blackness. She wandered around for a while in the darkness until she heard an cackling scream. It was a mischievous laughter that could easily send tremors down your spine. She looked all over but couldn't see anything, only pitch blackness.

Then it happened.

As if to remind her of what she experienced from the day before hand, two ropes sprung out from the darkness, wrapping around each arm tightly and pulling them out to the sides tightly. If only to increase her fear and memory, she found another rope pulled around her mouth to prevent her from screaming. For what few seconds her legs were free, she was flailing them in place, trying to see if enough shaking could free herself from the ropes. Unfortunately, even that didn't last forever as another rope rose from the darkness, tying around her ankles before pulling straight down keeping her in place.

It took Naegi a few seconds to realize the pose she was finally in. She was in the pure form of a crucifixion.

Directly after her realization, she heard the cackling scream of an all too familiar laughter, one that was responsible for the death of her latent friend, Chihiro Fujisaki. As if it was hiding directly in the shadows themselves, the killer suddenly materialized in front of her with a wicked smile.

"Heya there, bitch!" It greeted, pulling out it's infamous Geno-scissors from who knows where. "Hey, let's play the "Do you want to die?" game. All ya have to do is tell me if you don't want to die!" It smiled.

"Nnghhhhhh!" Naegi tried to scream with all her might, but with no success. She couldn't utter a single word. To simply mock her, Genocider jokingly put her ear closer with her hand, trying get a better chance of hearing her.

"Hmm? What's that? You don't want to live?" She joked snapping her scissors. "Well why didn't you say so! Why don't we play Doctor then? I'll start with the eyes..." It stated. Naegi could only watch in pure horror as the scissors came across towards her eyes.

For a split second, she almost thought she could feel them.

Then she woke up. Frightened, screaming, sweating...and wet.

And it was only 4 in the morning.

Thus brought us back to where we are now. Naegi's life could be considered the epiphany of Hell. And it would only get worse before it got better.

That's when the door opened.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" A voice spoke as a mysterious figure walked into the room. Naegi couldn't help but look up in confusion, not recognizing the voice nor the person who entered.

"Who...Who are you?"

...

...

...

*_Munch*_

_*Munch*_

_*Munch*_

The morning was most unusual. There she was- a single girl inside of the lunchroom. Hagakure continued to look at her in secrecy as she continued eating, what he assumed she made for herself, pancakes, with some eggs and juice. He could only blink as she continued eating, sitting there in a normal calm composure, eating gracefully and without worry.

The only time Hagakure looked away was when she had her head up, wanting to make sure to avoid being seen by her by any means necessary. He couldn't tell if she could be dangerous, or perhaps she was this so called headmaster herself. That would actually surprise him though.

The girl didn't look anything like he had pictured for a headmaster. She appeared to be a typical, normal, High School student. She wore a black skirt along the legs while wearing a typical white High School buttoned shirt. She even had black, long-length, socks and black shoes. Curiously, she also had an army bag sitting next to her on the table, but that was the least of Hagakure's concerns.

It wasn't so unusual to see a girl eating, that was not the problem at all. The big problem was, who was she?

"Hey Hagakure," Asahina greeted with a wave as she walked towards the lunchroom, "what are you doing out he-Mmph!" She was suddenly muffled as Hagakure quickly covered her mouth, pulling her closely to his chest.

"Shhh!" He warned, looking back inside the lunchroom from the side. "Look..." He whispered taking his hand off. Asahina looked at him in confusion until she saw what he was talking about.

"Whoa, who is she?" She whispered asking him.

"I don't know dude, she was just here as I got here a minute ago." He muttered back.

"Ah, Hagakure, Asahina!" Ishimaru greeted cheerfully. "It's always nice to see you two rising up bright and early for the morning me-!"

"SHHHHHHH!" They both shushed with their fingers to their mouths, then returning to spy on the mysterious new student.

Ishimaru blinked in confusion before joining them on their little "spying escapade", growing curious as well at the sight of the strange girl. "Who is that?" He asked.

"Neither of us know," Asahina answered, "she was just sitting here when Hagakure-"

"HEY LAME ASSES!" Genocider Shou suddenly shouted popping out of nowhere.

"AHHHH-MHHHHHH!"

Hagakure was too terrified of the serial killer to see her without screaming. Fortunately enough, the combined efforts of Ishimaru and Asahina covering his mouth was more than enough to block at least half of the sound. It took him quite a while to calm down, early twenty seconds, for him to stop screaming. It was quite an impressive scream.

"What are you dumbasses doing out here?" Genocider asked with wicked glee.

"Shhh," Asahina pleaded, "be quiet! We're spying on-"

"Ooooh! Spying?" Genocider grew interested, quickly panning over to the doorway as she peaked inside. "Who's this now?"

"I keep telling you guys, I don't know!" Hagakure replied. "She just appeared outta nowhere."

"Oooh, someone new? I'mma say hi to her!" Genocider decided.

"What?! No dude!" Hagakure yelled quietly. "Are you crazy? We don't even know who she is! She could be dangerous, she could kill you, she could-!" Hagakure paused deeply in thought for a few seconds. "...On second thought yeah, go say hi to her."

"Haha! Genocider away!" She cheered, already pulling her scissors out.

"W-Wait! Genoci-" Asahina tried to warn before Hagakure stopped her.

"Shhhh! Dude, let her go, it'll be perfect!" Hagakure was excited.

"What are you talking about?"

"Think about it! This will either end in 3 ways! Either the new girl kills Genocider, Genocider ends up killing the new girl and proves she's really evil or something, or neither of them kill each other and we're all fine!"

"And what if they kill each other?"

Hagakure blinked a bit before smiling. "Then it's 2 birds with one Genocider! Everyone still wins!" He cheered.

*ACHOO!*

Asahina took a moment to look back into the lunchroom and back. "I think there might be a little issue with your plan..." She commented pointing back.

There were a thousand possibilities that Hagakure could think of, but the one he didn't expect was for Fukawa to change back into...well, Fukawa. She didn't seem to know where she was at the moment, only that she was partly dazed and confused, biting her thumb like always. The other girl appeared to simply be staring at her with a simple curious look. It was hard to tell though what was going on their minds.

"Aww crap dude..." Hagakure moaned.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Oowada asked, yawning as he woke up for the morning.

"Dude, check this out! There's some weird girl in there." Hagakure pointed out. Even Oowada was surprised by the mysterious girl.

"Where'd the weird chick come from?"

"Beats me bro," Ishimaru replied, "Hagakure just said she was here when he showed up."

"Uhhh guys?" Asahina tried getting their attention.

"Dude, a girl doesn't show up just for no reason. I mean literally, HOW did she even get here?" Oowada remarked.

"Guys?"

"Maybe the girl sneaked in? I mean I remember Fujisaki once telling me how he was bitten by a mosquito once." Hagakure suggested. "It was a pretty bad looking bite by the look of it."

"Guys."

"Didn't Kirigiri suggest the idea of a headmaster behind everything?" Ishimaru asked. "Perhaps she's the mastermind behind everything."

"GUYS!" Asahina yelled, startling all 3 of them.

"What?" The three replied simultaneously.

Asahina looked back into the lunchroom worriedly. "What's Naegi doing in there?"

"Huh?" They all jumped, quickly looking back into the lunchroom like Asahina.

True enough, there she was, Makoto Naegi. She wasn't exactly dressed for the day, wearing her pink pajama shirt and pants, but then again it was only around six-thirty. It would still be about half an hour before the Monokuma announcement went off, as well as the morning meeting that follows after. She appeared to be carrying a tray of just plain cereal and juice. In honesty, the four were surprised to see her up at all at this point. She still had the same depressed look on her face, but at least she was moving.

"What the heck is she doing up?" Oowada asked dumbfounded.

"I would've sworn she'd be bedridden for at least a few days." Ishimaru added.

Asahina paid close attention, noticing, while Naegi was still sitting at the end of the table which was abut two chairs down, the other girl did seem polite and cheerful to talk to Naegi a bit. Even though her mood was still down, Naegi was at least speaking a few words here and there to her. Even Fukawa was joining in on the conversation as she saw across from the new girl.

"Maybe we should go introduce ourselves." Asahina suggested. The other three looked at her surprised.

"What, just like that?" Oowada asked.

"Well, she seems nice. Plus Naegi's at least saying something to her so she can't be all bad." She commented. The others looked back.

Like Asahina said, she was definitely chatting with not only Naegi, but Fukawa as well. Although fairly it was a bit more of a conversation with the mysterious girl and Fukawa than with Naegi.

"She seems nice, right?" Asahina gave her opinion.

"Meh, I don't know dude," Hagakure rubbed his head, "it could just be an act and all you know?" Asahina looked back with a determined expression on her face.

"Well I'm gonna introduce myself anyway." She stated, casually walking into the lunchroom as if everything was normal. It only took about several feet away from the table before the three other girls noticed. "Eh hem, ummm h-hi." Asahina greeted, somewhat nervous given the new girl's unknown origin. "I'm Aoi Asahina."

The other girl simply stared at her for a few seconds, blinking with curiosity. Despite the seemingly harmless look, Asahina actually was growing slightly nervous.

Much to her surprise or not, Naegi simply continued eating, not really seeming to care about anything that was going on at the moment. It's not like it was all too surprising. Twice already, she had been betrayed by two fellow good friends of hers, and twice she's seen them executed. It was truly sad.

Finally after another few brief moments of silence, the mysterious girl actually saluted her.

"Pvt. Ikusaba reporting for duty, mam!" She greeted respectfully. It was almost humorous to Asahina being greeted so strangely.

"U-Um...Hi, y-you don't need to greet so formally, but thanks." Asahina replied.

"Affirmative mam." Ikusaba replied.

Queue the sweat drop from Asahina.

"Umm s-so have you and Naegi...met already?" she asked curiously.

"Confirm," Ikusaba nodded, "we met in the laundry room at O-Four-hundred."

"Y-You can stop with the whole formal thing, it's just a school you know." Asahina reminded with a small smile. For once Ikusaba blushed a bit as she cleared her throat, dropping the salute she was giving.

"Eh hem, you'll umm...have to excuse me. Force of habit." She apologized.

"N-No, no, it's ok I was just-!" Asahina suddenly paused. "Wait, how did you two meet up in the laundry room?"

Ikusaba looked to the side as she saw Naegi's entire face flush, trying to look away from the other two in embarrassment. Even Ikusaba knew when to hide some pieces of information.

"Umm...we just...bumped into each other..." She lied, scratching the side of her cheek. If it wasn't for Monokuma's "timely intervention" on the monitor immediately after, she probably would've gotten away with it too.

"Is that before or after Naegi pissed the bed sheets?" He purposely joked.

...

"Pssst, what did Monokuma just say?" Hagakure asked Oowada, he, Oowada, and Ishimaru still hiding behind the entranceway of the lunchroom.

"I think he said Naegi kissed the red beach..." Ishimaru guessed, none of the three hearing.

"I think you mean bitch, bro." Oowada corrected. Hagakure gasped before looking back at Asahina.

"Whooooa! Dude, I didn't know those two swung that way!"

...

At this point, all Naegi could do was turn bright red as she groaned, slamming her forehead onto the table.

"Please kill me..." She moaned.

Now, under normal circumstances, you'd think someone would understand said joke. Apparently for Ikusaba however, from Asahina's point of view, she knew little to nothing about a joke or sarcasm, as she suddenly pulled out an M16 from her Army bag, quickly aiming it towards Naegi. And just like that, before Asahina could even utter a single word, she pulled the trigger with accurate swiftness.

*BANG*

And just like that, Naegi fell backwards.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The trio behind the door screeched in pure terror.

"HOLY SHIT!" ISHIMARU screamed.

"S-S-HE JUST SHOT NAGS!" Hagakure bellowed.

"C-C'mon! We need to bail! BAIL!" Oowada yelled, pulling the two by the collar running down the hall.

Now, if they had actually stayed to observe the scene a little closer, they would've really seen what had happened. Not to disclaim the idea that Mukuro shot towards Naegi, but she wasn't her real target. The suddenness of the event is what caused Naegi to jump from freight, and that's what caused her to fall backwards.

No, Ikusaba's actual target was the monitor behind Naegi. Where there was once an HD-clear vision of Monokuma, now there was a single bullet hole caught right in the center of it, creating a web of cracks from where the impact originated. Smoke could be seen rising from the crater of the monitor's opening with a bit of a static-like noise coming from the inside, presumably the wires and electricity buzzing from the monitor's destruction.

Nevertheless, Asahina quickly rushed over to Naegi's side, briefly thinking she was the one Mukuro shot, not the TV. Upon seeing her friend without a scratch, she sighed an overwhelming breath of great relief, kneeling down to see if her friend was truly ok.

"Are you ok?" She asked worriedly. Naegi moaned leaning up a bit, rubbing the back of her head. It still hadn't recovered entirely from being attacked the day before, but fortunately it wasn't bleeding.

"Y-Yeah..." She groaned. She looked up to Asahina somewhat pleadingly. "Please don't tell about you-know-what..." She begged, referring to Monokuma's little announcement seconds before hand. Asahina gave her a sweet smile while giving her a small hug.

"It's alright, it'll be our secret too." She promised before glaring back at the other girl. "What were you thinking? You could've killed her!" She yelled helping Naegi to her feet.

Ikusaba simply blinked curiously. "Really? I thought I was helping her." She replied. Before Asahina to yell back, Monokuma decided to make an official appearance, looking rather angry for the sudden destruction of one of his monitors.

"What the hell's your problem?!" He shouted, standing on the table flailing his arms. "Those monitors don't grow on trees you know!" Like everyone else thus far, Ikusaba simply looked at him with curiosity.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

"Hell yeah you did! It'll take me a week to fix that you know!" He shouted.

"Well you were hurting Naegi so I hurt your monitor." She replied, continuing to eat her breakfast. Monokuma rubbed his chin in confusion.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Simple. You made Naegi sad to the point she wished she was dead. So I corrected the problem." She replied, going back to eating her breakfast again.

It was only natural for Monokuma to be angry. "Grrrrrrrr," he growled, "well don't make a habit of this you stupid idiot! Fact, I'm updating the rules to prevent something like this again!" He shouted before disappearing.

As he announced, the e-Handbooks suddenly went off, detailing the new rule:

_**You are forbidden from destroying any surveillance cameras or monitors. **_

Asahina couldn't help but be a little impressed at how Ikusaba, despite the means being a little unconventional, tried to cheer up Naegi, or at least stop her from feeling bad.

It didn't make it any less weird, however.

"Well thanks for trying to help anyway." Asahina thanked. Naegi couldn't help but turn away slightly.

"Umm y-yeah...thanks..." She muttered.

It wasn't that she was trying to be rude or anything, but after the events that have played out for the last near-two weeks, the strain it was taking on her emotionally was becoming harder and harder to handle.

Not only that, but with how the last two friends she thought she had tried to betray her, she felt it hard for herself to warm up to anyone anymore, much less trust anyone else again from this point forward. Sure, there were a few people she could partly trust like Kirigiri and Asahina, but after recent events, even that was hard to believe in these days.

Naegi's attention was caught as Asahina tapped her shoulder.

"Anyway, why don't you head back and get washed up and dressed for the day, Naegi?" Asahina suggested. Naegi sighed mentally as she nodded.

"Ok..." She mumbled, already heading out the door.

Asahina was to distracted by the following events that she almost forgot Fukawa was there. It wasn't too surprising anyway to be honest, since the entire time, all she's been doing is chewing on her fingernail and watching the following events as well.

It was around that time when Asahina heard the rest of the gang already coming in.

"I'm telling ya dude," Hagakure sobbed, "I did everything I could to save her, but after kicking the crap out of the really muscly third guy, I had no energy left and-!"

"You realize we pretty much stopped listening to anything you were saying after you told us how Naegi was killed, right?" Celes asked.

And as many people expected from Hagakure's "heroic tale", there was no dead body within the lunchroom. What did catch them by surprise however, was the sight of the mysterious girl who suddenly appeared much like they said. Even Celes was surprised that Hagakure's story had at least one single truth in it.

"I will admit, I did not see that coming." Celes commented.

Much like she had done before, except where she was sitting the entire time, Ikusaba stood as she saluted the following students who entered the lunchroom.

"Pvt. Mukuro Ikusaba, reporting for duty, sir!" She stated firmly.

Naturally, many of the students who hadn't already met up with her were quite amazed and shocked. It wasn't so much that she showed up so unexpectedly that caught everyone off guard, it was the fact she was here at all that really confused everyone.

Ever since they were locked into this school, they've had absolutely no indication of outside life whatsoever. The only exception to this was the dvds Monokuma presented to everyone after the first couple days to promote the first school murder. But upon seeing the footage behind it and all, no one could tell what to expect or what was coming for then in the foreseeable future.

Kirigiri was the only one to keep any composure as she stood ahead of the group, looking Ikusaba straight in the eye.

"Give me your gun." She ordered. It wasn't too surprising she already knew about it ahead of time, given the gunshot is what woke everyone up to begin with. Ikusaba stared at her briefly, as if trying to predict her and all her future actions. Not willing to argue by the looks of it, she did as she was ordered, taking the gun back out and tossing it over to Kirigiri.

Kirigiri examined the weapon carefully. True enough, it was a M-16 that had been fired, a pistol to be more specific. She seemed rather disgusted at the sight of it, which was understandable given they were in a school full where murder was literally the name of the game.

Not wanting to put up with holding such a dangerous weapon any longer, she quickly unloaded the clip of bullets that were in it, dumping the bullets to the ground before kicking them off to the side. After that, she put the gun in an inside pocket of her jacket, looking back immediately at Ikusaba.

"Now tell me, who you are." Kirigiri requested.

"Sir! Mukuro Ikusaba, age 16, height five-foot-six, weight ninety-seven pounds, bust size-"

"I don't need all the details." Kirigiri quickly cut off with a brief blush. She took a moment to glance around the room. "Where's Naegi?" Kirigiri asked a bit concerned.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Kirigiri!" Asahina quickly answered for Ikusaba. "She was fine but still in her pajamas and all, so I sent her off to get herself cleaned up and dressed for the day." She explained. Kirigiri was a little confused.

"Why was she still in her PJ's?" She asked.

"Sir, that was my, sir! She was-"

"Ummm Ikusaba, you can drop the accent for about everyone here..." Asahina commented. Ikusaba blinked for a few moments before scratching the back of her head.

"Personally I rather enjoy the accent, it's nice to meet a woman with her caliber." Ishimaru commented, nodding and crossing his arms. He jerked a bit as Owada through his arm around his neck.

"Sounds like your kind of girl, 'eh bro?" He teased. Although Ishimaru neither confirmed nor denied that statement, he couldn't help but scratch his cheek with a small blush.

"Eh heh heh," she chuckled, "sorry, force of habit. As I was saying, I met her early this morning and asked her to escort me throughout the facility." She paused looking around the room. "I haven't seen this part of the facility for awhile..."

"Wait, what was Naegi doing when you met her?" Owada asked scratching his head. Ikusaba blushed slightly as she looked away.

"Umm...nothing, just uhhh heading for the bathroom." She replied. Kirigiri couldn't help but by that response, at least for now. She knew Naegi still had trauma suffering from the incident with Maizono, so it wasn't completely unexpected. Still, this girl was giving Kirigiri a strange vibe.

And it didn't make her feel good.

"Why don't we get to a better question then?" Oogami suggested. "How did you get here?" Ikusaba, as always, blinked for a few seconds.

"W-Well...I assume the same way you guys did. I was accepted here." She replied bluntly.

"Accepted?" Hagakure repeated.

"Yes, sir!" She replied. "I was accepted to this academy to further my educational standards." She looked up in thought as she tapped her chin. "But...when I came here, I was suddenly overcome with some strange feeling and passed out in the entrance." She looked back to the group. "When I woke up, I was here."

"But that doesn't explain WHERE you've been this whole time." Celes stated. "Where have you been all this time?"

"On the third floor." She held her elbow while tapping her chin again. "I've been trapped on the third floor this entire time. It only recently unlocked early this morning." She explained.

The others looked back between one another as the spoke.

"That does seem to make sense," Oogami said, "we haven't been able to access the third floor until very recent."

"So you've been living on the third floor this entire time?" Kirigiri questioned.

"Yes, sir." Ikusaba replied with a slight bow. "I haven't really had much to do or eat since arriving here, other than a few snacks I found in one of the rooms. This is the first breakfast I've had in a few days!" She said excitedly.

Kirigiri rubbed her chin.

"I see..." She looked deep in thought, but as to what she was thinking no one could determine. "Could you give us a minute?" She asked.

"Sure." Ikusaba responded, gathering her used dishes before heading to the kitchen, most likely to clean up. Once she was out of the room, Kirigiri quickly turned back towards the group.

"I don't trust her." She simply stated.

"Well it's not like it's totally impossible that she was on the third floor, ya know?" Owada replied. "I mean, we honestly don't know if anyone else is around here."

"She does have a certain air about her, but I don't think she's entirely dangerous." Celes voiced her opinion.

"Are you kidding?! She just shot at Naegi cause she couldn't take a joke seriously!" Hagakure yelled.

"Umm, actually Hagakure, she was shooting at the monitor." Asahina revealed, pointing back to the now-broken monitor. "She thought it would help cheer Naegi up by blowing it up and all..." Kirigiri eyed the monitor a bit surprised.

"Wait, she destroyed the monitor?" She asked stepping closer for a better look.

Only after a few steps ahead, however, she came to a stop as she felt something at the tip of her feet. It wasn't entirely that big, but just enough to be noticed by Kirigiri herself. She carefully kneeled down as she inspected the weird black just, swiping it with her finger. Trying to get a better idea of what it was, she gently placed it next to her nose and sniffed it. That alone was enough to make her face contort as she felt herself practically about to sneeze, but managed to keep it in.

Upon further inspection, she also noticed Fukawa was still sitting at the table. It wasn't too unnatural to think she was just being silent due to the recent loss of her "white knight", but what did bother her was how she wasn't in her typical Genocider Personality like yesterday. It only took Kirigiri a few brief seconds to put two and two together about what the black stuff on the floor was.

It was pepper.

"Just for curiosity's sake, Asahina," Kirigiri spoke up as she looked back from where she was, "what was Genocider doing here?"

"Ha, that was my ingenious idea dude!" Hagakure said proudly. "We sent her in first to see if the new girl was dangerous or not. As you can see, she's perfectly harmless!" He cheered.

"Yeah...harmless..." Kirigiri muttered, looking back at the pepper she rubbed against the fingertips of her glove.

At the same time, Ikusaba was taking care of her own dishes. So far, she had, to her viewpoint, made a good first impression on herself. She came up with a reasonable story, sided with one of their own friends when they needed it, Naegi in this case, and thus far avoided any sort of conflict. It was at this time that a hidden transmitter, attacked to her right ear and hidden by her hair, was starting to go off. She quickly paused what she was doing as she shifted her eyes to it and turned it on.

"Hey you, that was excellent!" The familiar person cheered. Ikusaba grinned.

"That was the easy part, but we got a good way to go." She replied.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But not bad, at least not compared to when you were trying to be me."

Ikusaba rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, don't go impaling me next time I don't "live up ta ya ex-pa-dation"." Ikusaba retored in a mocking tone.

"I thought we were over that by now? By the way, I get the idea of trying to keep a low profile, but next time, try to do so in a way that DOESN'T involve destroying my equipment!" The speaker yelled. "Seriously, I obviously can't just pop down and come repair that stuff, ya know."

"Whatever, I got it." She replied while doing the dishes again.

"By the way, you should be careful with that Kirigiri-chick." Ikusaba shifted her eyes back to the transmitter as the voice spoke. "She's a lot more cool and collected than you think. She already discovered the possibility you might've used the pepper awhile ago." The voice warned.

"Already?" Ikusaba groaned. "Well what was I suppose to do? If I can't kill any of them for now, I couldn't really think of a different way to defend myself."

"Yeah, I know. Just don't go expecting me to budge in if you do commit murder, whether or not you defend yourself. Remember, you commit a murder, you'll be executed just the same if you're found guilty." The voice reminded.

"Yeah no need to remind me. I was already surprised how she managed to solve the last case, let alone the first."

"Just keep your cool, and don't go blowing your cover. Remember, even if she's suspicious, she won't be able to act out anything unless she has the others to support her." The voice reminded.

"Got it, talk to you later. Ikusaba out." She stated before turning off the transmitter. No sooner had she hung up did she hear the door suddenly open.

"Hey Ikusaba," Asahina called inside, "can we talk to you for a minute?" Asahina's sudden appearance nearly made her jump, thinking she either would've heard her talking or seen her messing with the transmitter. With a sigh of relief, she smiled back as she nodded.

"Oh, sure! Just let me finish up these dishes and I'll be done." She called back.

It would be a rather eventful meeting...

During this time, Naegi had just finished up within the public bath as she was quickly drying off. The time had been hard on her in numerous ways, but of them all, the way she couldn't shake was that of Chihiro Fujisaki. She couldn't understand it- why had her best friend betrayed her like that? Naegi never did anything to make him angry towards her, and matter of fact, she looked p to Fujisaki for strength and encouragement!

She couldn't help but sigh to herself as she looked directly at the steam-covered Mirror in front of her.

"Why Fujisaki...?" She muttered to herself.

It wasn't too unnatural for her to ask herself a simple question. After all she's been through, she could at least be allowed to ask a question out loud without having to worry about someone's opinion about her. She remembered the so-called "promise" they made to each other the night before the murder.

_"N-Naegi-kun...I...Let's make a promise." she said with a warming smile. If you had saw her earlier, you would not think this suddenly-heartwarming girl was the same one who entered Naegi's bedroom with tears on her cheek. "Let's both make a promise, that no matter what happens, we'll both get out of here together!" Naegi's heart almost warmed up immediately as she sniffed._

_"Mmh...O-Ok. It's a promise!" She cheered._

She thought those words would stick to the both of them truthfully, right until the very end. Naegi couldn't help as a single tear rolled down her face from the pain it brought to her, quickly wiping it away with the sleeve of her arm.

She had to accept reality around here: In here, she couldn't trust too many people. She had to keep to herself from this point forward. It pained her to think of such thoughts, but that's the only conclusion she brought herself to without needing to worry about getting hurt. Especially if new people suddenly started appearing like that Ikusaba from this morning. She was still a little confused on the morning's events entirely...

...

...

...

_"Hello? Anyone in here?" A voice spoke as a mysterious figure walked into the room. Naegi couldn't help but look up in confusion, not recognizing the voice nor the person who entered._

_"Who...Who are you?" Naegi asked in confusion. The girl simply smiled down to her as she squatted down._

_"Hello! My name is Mukuro Ikusaba, what's yours?" She asked curiously. Naegi stared at her for a few brief seconds before lowering his head back into his arms. The girl waited a few more seconds before tilting her head. "Helloooo? Is someone in there?" She joked, tapping Naegi's head. Naegi just swatted her hand away, not even bothering to look back up. Ikusaba couldn't help but hear Naegi sniffle slightly, seeming tensed up. "Is something wrong?" She asked as she sat beside him against the wall._

_Naegi shook a bit before shaking her head, still keeping it within her little curled position. _

_"I...I don't want to talk about it." She mumbled. _

_"I thought talking about it usually helps?" Ikusaba wondered. _

_"It's too personal..." Naegi replied. Ikusaba stared at her for a few seconds before smiling._

_"Well if you don't want to talk then, then you can do some work for me!" She announced. _

_"Whaaaa!" Naegi yelped startled as the mysterious girl suddenly lifted her to her feet by pulling her by the arms. _

_"I'm new here, so I'd like a tour of the place! And I won't take no for an answer!" She decreed with a hearty smile. Naegi shifted her eyes away with an unexcited look._

_"Fine..." She agreed. _

_She didn't really want to or anything, but at the same time she didn't want to do much of anything. She just wanted her life here to be over sometime soon, and preferably while still alive! She only made the simple agreement in the hopes that whoever this girl is, she would quickly leave her alone the minute she was done. She couldn't help but notice the girl blushing slightly as she looked down._

_"Um...why aren't you wearing any pants?" She asked red-faced. Naegi suddenly blushed a small bit as she remembered she was still only wearing a shirt and panties. She looked away in embarrassment as she scratched her head._

_"U-Umm...no reason..." She lied. Thus, Ikusaba waited for at least another half hour until Naegi's pajama pants were washed and dried..._

...

...

...

With a heavy sigh, she began using the towel to wipe the steam off the mirror to get a better look at herself. And that's when she noticed it.

A small, strange, faint glow from one of the small locker boxes was going off. It was green in color, and almost completely unnatural. It was rather unsettling for the young teen, thinking she was just seeing things again. She had rather hoped that wasn't the case, already suffering from delusional trauma from the fact her friend Maizono was dead. The last she needed was to find out she was suffering trauma even in the public bath. That would really cause her problems!

Still, she couldn't just let it go unnoticed. She shook her head fervently as she turned around, seeing the same glow going off right in front of her eyes. Considering it was glowing like it was in the mirror, she was somewhat assured that she wasn't seeing things- just not completely. She shook her head once more as she started walking towards it slowly.

"There's nothing in there...There's nothing in there... There's nothing in there..." She kept muttering to herself.

She needed to accept the fact that she was seeing things, at least she thought. If this was another case of trauma again, she thought maybe if she accepted it, it would simply go away. She didn't want to accept it mind you, otherwise she'd prove to herself that she was going somewhat crazy, but at least she could attempt to confront her problems head on and find a way to get rid of it. Her heart began to race as she gripped the locker's handle, ready to open it.

With one deep breath, she closed her eyes and hastily pulled open the door.

"There's nothing in here!" She yelled to herself. She hesitated a bit as she slowly opened one eye. But upon seeing the source of the glowing green light, her heart sank.

"Hello there, Makoto Naegi." The head of Chihiro Fujisaki greeted.

"**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**!"

A/N: Hoofta! A nice work for a day if I say so myself ^^ I have to admit, it feels good not having a real life- if I did, I wouldn't be able to post these things for you guys to enjoy! HORRAY FOR NO LIIIIFE ^^!...X*….*sniffle*

Anyway, with that, I will be taking a break from the continuation. Now don't hang yourselves yet- I don't mean I'm stopping the fanfic XP Instead, I shall be starting from the beginning of the DGR series from my take on this fanfic, and working it towards where I started this fic. In other words, I'll be starting again from the beginning of the DGR series and to the end of the first trial and murder case, just from my own point of few . Also, I know some of you guys might've found the new chp rather goofy/silly in some parts compared to my normal writing thus far, but that was just to prove I'm not all about writing it dark. I mean, there will be bad and sad times here and there, but I also want to throw in some humor every now and then ^^

Like I said! A new gender can work wonders and bunders (whatever that means) on the way to a good fanfic ^^ So, having no idea what I just said, just rev, enjoy, fav, etc. and prepare to see me as I go back to the earlier days of the Mutual Life Killing from my own take on things!

PS: Unless you guys prefer I keep going on as I have been. So far, it's a 1 vs 1 vote- one in favor of me going on ahead and one in favor of me going back and doing the beginning chapters too. So, along with your rev, let me know what you guys wish too ^^


	7. Breaking Trauma

A/N: Ok, these author notes are getting annoying XP not so much from having to write them, but the reasons i have for writing them XP like last author note, I wrote about how I thought I was spelling Owada wrong as Oowada- apparently, it doesn't matter as it works both ways (personally though i think there's a slightly bigger pronunciation difference there...) Also, I know I keep writing Naegi and Fujisaki as he/she incorrectly at times, but cut me some slack XP Would you rather wait several months for the guy who can write half as much as me without any spelling errors, or the guy who can generally write about 6-7k words with only a few spelling/pronunciation errors on a daily-weekly basis XP? *sigh* Anyway, I wanted to do this chapter first cause I wanted to help Naegi move past her Trauma in order to help her, so if you guys want me to do the beginning chapters next, I will. Otherwise, in addition to the rev, let me know if you'd like for me to just continue on. Again, the vote is 1-on-1 for and against, but I need at least a 3+ vote on the against piece if you guys want me to continue on as normal.

Without further ado, enjoy ^^!

"Ok, first thing first," Kirigiri began instructing, "empty your bag of all clothing and toss aside any weaponry you have." She told Ikusaba in a calm but firm tone.

It wasn't all too surprising she was suspicious of the Ultimate Soldier, but she couldn't show how much she distrusted her. If she did, the mysterious student, who had appeared only just last night when everyone was asleep, might become more cautious of her actions. The last thing Kirigiri needed was to be aware that Ikusaba would take more action to make herself seem more trusting.

The fact that she concluded Ikusaba used the pepper on Genocider a few minutes ago was already suspicious enough. After all, who exactly told her Fukawa had a split personality to begin with? On top of that, being that she was a soldier in nearly all fields, she could expect Ikusaba to take necessary steps to avoid the risk of revealing herself as someone dangerous.

All she cared about at this time was seeing how cooperative Ikusaba would be, and if she preformed any other suspicious actions.

So, as instructed, Ikusaba began emptying her bag of all personal belongings, separating her clothing from her weaponry. The weaponry alone was enough to make Kirigiri a little uneasy. She apparently had your typical Soldier's combat knife, a case containing the parts to assemble an AK-47, holy crap, several small boxes of ammunition, and, much to her shock, a grenade. The sight of all this weaponry was enough to make anyone uneasy given the situation they were currently in.

Hagakure's eyes widened at the sight of so many dangerous items in one area. "Holy crap dude, where did you get all this stuff?!" He yelled slightly terrified. Once Ikusaba had finished unloading, she saluted back to him as she replied.

"Sir! I only bring the essentials in case of all possible scenarios!" She firmly stated.

"Do you really need all that for a freaking school though?" Owada questioned, being just as surprised as the rest of them.

Ikusaba tapped her chin as she looked up in thought. "Well, I suppose I could've left the grenade at the least, but I always think it's better to be safe than sorry." She replied.

"_Well this is just perfect..._" Kirigiri thought to herself. If this girl did have anything she was hiding, the fact she was already endangering all of them with the weapons she brought already troubled her- and she hasn't even done anything else yet! "Toss the guns into the bag and throw them to me." She ordered.

Like before, Ikusaba complied without hesitation. Kirigiri couldn't help but actually feel **more** concerned with how cooperative she was being. Her questionable personality was the only factor that made it hard to determine just how dangerous she could be.

Once she had the bag, she quickly double-checked everything to make sure it was all she showed them earlier. As ordered, Ikusaba had indeed given her all the weaponry, even the ammunition cases which were all full.

"Is there anything else you need, sir?" Ikusaba asked curiously with a simple smile. Kirigiri took a brief glance at her then back at the case.

"_She's being way too cooperative._" She thought to herself. Once the bag was re-zipped up, she gave Ikusaba a simple smile. "No, that'll be all, thank you." She replied.

"Out of curiosity, Kirigiri," Celes eyed the bag suspiciously, "what do you plan to do with those now?" She asked.

"Simple, I plan on tossing the guns into the incinerator," she replied before looking back to Ikusaba, "provided you don't have any issues with that, of course."

She watched carefully for any signs of a reaction from Ikusaba. A twitch, a pause, or a simple change in attitude, anything that could be suspicious. Much to her surprise, however, Ikusaba just tilted her head as she gave Kirigiri a sweetened smile.

"Not at all." She replied. She blinked suddenly with a pause for a few moments. "However," she began again, "I would refrain from tossing the grenade and ammunition in it into the same incinerator. It'll most likely cause them to go off, and you could get hurt." She warned.

Kirigiri shook her head with a smile. "I appreciate your concern, but it'll be alright." She replied looking back at the bag. "I plan on flushing all the ammunition that I can down the drain. As for the grenade... I'll find a safe means of disposing of it." She explained.

"Umm, Kirigiri, not that I don't trust you, but is it safe for any of us to really be carrying that around?" Asahina asked slightly worried. "I mean it, it's nothing towards you. I wouldn't even carry it around myself with all that's in there. M-Maybe we should all take a weapon and burn it." She added.

"You won't have to worry about that, Asahina." Kirigiri responded. "I think it'll be better if only one of us carry these around. That way, on the off chance someone were to die next from a shooting or otherwise, then it'll be simple to conclude that I was the killer." Asahina thought for a few moments before nodding in agreement.

"Alright, I understand. I guess I was just worried." She commented.

"I understand your fear Asahina, but I believe Kirigiri to be telling the truth." Oogami said with a calming expression. "We would be more at risk if everyone carried a weapon around and trusted them to dispose of it."

"B-But what about the grenade?" Yamade asked with unease. "I mean, you can't obviously burn it away either without setting it off. And I can't exactly think of a location that would be safe for setting it off without complications."

"I'll come up with something when I can. Otherwise, presume to follow the same conclusion as already suggested. If something happens, I have no quarrels with concluding it was me." Kirigiri restated.

"Well then," Ishimaru started as he began walking forward, "if all matters have been dealt with, then allow me to formally welcome you to our group." He greeted proudly, extending his hand to Ikusaba.

"Hmhm," Ikusaba chuckled as she shook, "then consider me formally welcomed." She replied cheerfully.

"Well if we're all good and done, why don't we continue with the morning meeting?" Owada suggested as he walked over to one of the chairs to sit down. Ikusaba grew confused at the suggestion.

"Morning meeting?" She repeated.

"Ah yes, allow me to explain!" Ishimaru offered. "You see, every morning we gather to discuss means of escape. And when a new floor is opened to us, we start a reconnaissance meeting to-"

"**Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh**!" A voice suddenly screamed in terror. Everyone turned back to the doorway in worry, with the exception of Ikusaba who, pretended, to have a perplexed expression on her face.

"Oh my god, it's Naegi!" Asahina yelled worriedly, already running out the door with Oogami.

"Gah, don't tell me she's suffering another trauma-incident again..." Owada groaned running out after with Hagakure and Yamada.

He didn't necessarily mind the fact Naegi was slightly suffering from a traumatic incident, as matter of fact, he was rather more concerned with her well being than annoyed.

"Is something the matter?" Ikusaba asked with a curious tone. Ishimaru turned his gaze back towards her.

"I will have to explain later, but for now, just come with us." He said as he urged her to follow him when he left.

"Heh," Celes chuckled casually, "it would be interesting to hear what she saw this time." She commented as she simply walked out the door.

Thus left Kirigiri and Ikusaba with each other for a few, unsettling seconds. The two stared at each other, both curious as to what was on each other's mind. It took Ikusaba's seeming kindness to break the tension.

"Well, I suppose it would be best to follow along, then." She said as she began jogging out after the other two.

If only for a brief second, a wave of unease overcame Kirigiri as Ikusaba ran past her. She couldn't tell if it was a simple hallucination or her mind playing tricks on her, since she already was suspicious of the mysterious girl. But for a quick second that Ikusaba ran past her, the world suddenly seemed to slow down as she noticed Ikusaba's eyes shifted towards her when she past.

It wasn't a simple or generic kind of glance either. The way she had her brows narrowed and her eyes intently focused on her, it was as if Ikusaba was mentally warning Kirigiri to watch herself or what she does. Kirigiri failed to gather anymore insight from this action, for by the time she saw it to what thoughts she could form, Ikusaba already ran out the door.

All Kirigiri could tell was what she kept thinking to herself since their first encounter.

"I don't trust her..."

...

...

...

"..."

"..Na..."

"Na..i.."

"Naegi!" The voice finally became clear to her as she suddenly regained consciousness.

Opening her bleary eyes, she began to regain focus as she realized she was still in the public bath. She could see three figures starting to clear up, one of which was a figure looming over her. She presumed she was leaning up in their lap or something.

By the time her vision fully cleared, she recognized all three figures. The first was Asahina, who appeared to be on her left, and Kirigiri, who was on her right. Much to her surprise, turning her head back for a better view, she realized her head was resting in Mukuro Ikusaba's lap, who seemed to be smiling once she realized Naegi was finally awake.

"G...Girls...?" Naegi muttered as she slowly leaned up. Her head ached a bit, not completely recovered from her injury the day beforehand.

"Naegi, are you ok?" Asahina asked worriedly.

"Y-Yeah...My head's just a little sore." She replied, rubbing it slightly. "What happened?" She asked.

"You tell us. You were passed out when we got here." Asahina replied. Kirigiri took the liberty of looking around the room for a bit.

"I...I did?" She moaned mentally. "S-Sorry...I guess I was just hallucinating again." She apologized. "I...I-I thought I saw...Fujisaki." She said with a slight sadness. "I guess I was just...seeing things again...sorry."

Asahina couldn't help but pat Naegi's head softly, feeling sorry for her. It was apparent that the trauma which inflicted upon her earlier was definitely taking a toll on her again. Despite not being as informed as Kirigiri on the matter, she could at least presume that the fact she was suffering from one source of trauma, it most likely made her susceptible to more trauma as well.

Still, all she could smile about was the fact her friend was still ok. "It's alright Naegi, the important thing is that your safe." Asahina assured. Ikusaba nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! I mean, it would be bad if something bad happened to my new buddy." She said with glee. Naegi couldn't help but give her a somewhat questionable gesture.

"Um...thanks..." She thanked in a mellow tone.

"Actually, Naegi, you might not have just seen things this time." Kirigiri stated. The other three looked at her with surprise as she appeared to be looking into one of the open cabinet doors.

"W-Wait, I wasn't?" Naegi asked.

"Everyone should see this, especially you Naegi." Kirigiri replied with a small smile. It was the kind that could normally ease someone's tension and worry.

"Well where is everyone? They'll probably want to see-" Naegi began as she started standing again. She was cut off as she noticed Asahina holding onto her arm.

"Errr, Naegi, before that, you ummm...might wanna get dressed first." Asahina said with a slight chuckle and blush. Naegi stared at her in confusion before looking down, suddenly overcome with embarrassment herself.

Apparently one thing she never got around to was getting dressed immediately after upon exiting the public bath, a case she quickly began to remedy as she searched around for her clothes. The others took the opportunity to give her somewhat privacy, looking away as she got dressed.

This would explain why most of the other classmates were absent in the room, all standing outside to give Naegi privacy due to being nearly exposed, save for the towel still around her. None of the boys dared bother trying to take a glance either, given how Oogami's specific words were, "they can if they get past her"- none of them challenged her on that offer.

At least she still had her towel wrapped around her.

...

...

So, about two minutes later, the entire group was gathered around a wooden bench within the public bath. Believe it or not, Naegi wasn't actually seeing things, at least not in the terms of a hallucinations.

What Naegi had actually seen earlier, was not that of a mere hallucination, but the face of Fujisaki himself- to be more accurate, his face within a monitor, on a laptop. Naturally, many of the students were amazed, a few more that it wasn't just Naegi hallucinating, but majority wise, amazed that it was in fact

Fujisaki's face.

From what information could be gathered from mere observation, Kirigiri realized this was the same laptop found within the school's library, the very same Togami had tried using earlier. It was agreed upon investigation that Fujisaki must've repaired it himself after taking it with him, possibly after setting up the fake murder scene.

Not only that, but much to the amazement of everybody else, they discovered Fujisaki had created an A.I., artificial intelligence, known as Alter Ego, within it as well. To be able to create such a program within the short time he had it was truly an amazement of itself.

Which left everyone to ponder what would happen next within the time that Kirigiri continued writing within it.

"I can't believe it was a program after all." Owada commented as he waited for Kirigiri to explain the situation to Alter Ego.

"I'm more surprised it wasn't a hallucination this time!" Hagakure said in surprise, before scratching the back of his head in slight guilt. "Err, no offense Nags." He apologized.

Naegi couldn't help but lower her head slightly. "It's ok..." She muttered, still knowing she couldn't go without being looked down upon for her trauma. Asahina crossed her arms as she gave Hagakure an irritated expression.

"Way to make a girl feel better, ya dumbass..." She whispered, knowing how Naegi was feeling. Hagakure moaned internally as he rubbed his head.

"To be honest, we should be thankful for Naegi's trauma all the same." Celes said, looking back to the others. "If it wasn't for her, we might not have discovered this until much later, or even never."

"Haha! See Nags! You going nanners is actually a good thing!" Hagakure declared, trying to cheer Naegi up. This only worsened the feeling as her head lowered even further, a small storm cloud raining atop her head. There were many irritated glares, save for Kirigiri who was still typing, thrown at him.

"Eh heh...heh...ehhhhhhhhhhhh..." Hagakure chuckled nervous before lowering his own head in shame.

"Still, why exactly did someone leave it in this room?" Yamada asked. "It would make more sense to simply tell us about it, wouldn't it?"

"That would've caused more issues than you think, Yamada." Kirigiri replied. "This is one of the only rooms that's special compared to the rest."

"Heh? Special? How so?" He asked. Naegi took a brief moment to glance around the room, then turned to her.

"There aren't any cameras in here?" She suggested. Kirigiri nodded back with a smile.

"That's right," she replied as she typed once more, "it's one of the only rooms we could possibly discuss things in the utmost privacy." She announced.

"That's actually a grand detail!" Ishimaru said with excitement. "We could move all our meetings here to discuss things with more secrecy-!"

"No." Kirigiri interrupted. "We need to continue having our meetings in the lunchroom as normal."

"What? But you just said this room was secretive! It's the perfect spot!" Ishimaru retorted.

"Yeah, I'm with bro on this one," Owada agreed, "I mean if this room is as secret as you said, why not just use it? Don't waste what isn't broken...or something along the saying."

"Ho ho, I think I actually have the reasoning behind this!" Yamada announced. "Clearly, it would make the puppet master too suspicious if we constantly gathered here where he couldn't see anything."

"Yamada's claim is firm," Oogami added, "we can't risk the puppet master growing too suspicious of our actions. It would be most troubling if we lost one of the few sanctuaries we had from the puppet master's gaze."

Ikusaba feigned ignorance, only to do what she could to decrease her suspicion from the rest. "Puppet...master?" She questioned.

Asahina turned towards her. "The guy who locked us up in here and is responsible for putting us through this." She explained. "You should know him, he's the one who was controlling Monokuma." She reminded. Ikusaba stared at her momentarily before gasping in understanding.

"Oh! He's the one controlling that cute little bear thing?" She asked. "I always just thought he was our school's mascot." She chuckled scratching the back of her head.

Queue the numerous sweat drops that followed. Everyone else's attention was taken back by the sound of Alter Ego talking once more.

"I see..." He said in a saddening. "I feared that may have happened. For the brief few hours I knew him, he seemed concerned that he wouldn't have much time to speak." He revealed. "He also said how he regretted what happened to Naegi, too."

Naegi could only frown as her lips trembled slightly, reminded of the pain, emotionally, the last trial had brought her. Kirigiri couldn't help but notice Naegi's sad expression, even if just glancing from the corner of her eye.

It wasn't just from the understanding of knowing how pained Naegi must've been, but also how much she hated herself for what she did to Naegi during the trial. To have tricked her with such an act with false emotions when Naegi trusted her most, and then to use that to have Naegi confess the truth when she trusted her most...

It was painful to remember, and yet, even she knew it was nowhere near as painful as the feelings Naegi was dealing with at the time. Taking a few seconds to gather her thoughts, Kirigiri quickly began typing into the computer once more.

_Naegi is stricken with sorrow. Any help?_ She typed. It only took Alter Ego a full second to process this before replying.

"Ah!" He squealed. "As matter of fact, I have a video recording left by my master!" He revealed to everyone's surprise. "He wanted it to be played in case...an event like this occurred after the trial. It was for Naegi mostly."

Naegi flinched slightly at the mention of her name. "He...left a video for me?" She asked. Kirigiri gestured over for her to come over, kneeling down to where Kirigiri was for a better look. Once she was settled next to her, Kirigiri typed again.

_Please play the video._ She requested. Alter Ego nodded once more before the screen began to buzz. After only a second, an a video began to play out with Fujisaki's arm in the way, most likely just to adjust the camera for the time, before he sat back looking straight at the monitor once more.

"Umm...H-Hi." He said quietly with a slight wave. "I'm...not a hundred percent sure who's watching this or when. For all I know, I could just be re-watching this years from now if I do escape." He frowned looking away. "I... I kind of hope this though. On the chance that...maybe...m-maybe if I am caught being the culprit..." Fujisaki began to sniffle as his eyes watered.

"I-I'm sorry..." He paused briefly to sniffle, trying to keep his voice clear to speak. "I-If I am caught, t-then maybe you guys will find this later." His voiced waved with sadness as he tried to force himself to speak.

At the same time, Kirigiri couldn't help but notice as Naegi's eyes began to water, her gaze intensely focused on the video as she watched it play out. Kirigiri knew this would only bring her more pain, but still managed to hope, that perhaps some healing could be done to Naegi's mind as well.

"I-If you do, i-if..." He wiped his eyes as best he could as he looked back to the monitor. "I-If N-Naegi i-isn't...I-If she isn't...d-dead...T-Tell her I'm...*hic*...T-Tell her I'm so-sorry." He pleaded wiping his face. "I-I didn't mean t-to do that to her... I-I-I was just too s-scared. I-I couldn't see or t-think st-straight."

The video wasn't only bringing sorrow to Naegi. All around, the fellow students couldn't help but feel a heavy burden within their hearts. Oogami could only stand there despite the pain it brought her, Asahina couldn't help as a tear rolled down her face too, wiping it best she could. Even Celes couldn't help but turn away from the video every few seconds just to maintain her composure.

And the more sorrow it spread, the more it affected everyone on the inside. Owada couldn't even help but shake his head back and forth, envying Fujisaki more and more for his strength. Nor could Hagakure help but moan internally, feeling like more of a jerk for his rash comments towards Naegi as the videos continued. To even people like Ishimaru, this could only deepen their resolve to defeat the puppet master all the while burdening his sorrow.

The only one not taking it the same as the rest was Ikusaba, who looked around at the varying responses towards everyone. She felt herself at a cross here. She was the Ultimate soldier, yet also Ultimate Despair as well. The despair she was feeling right now, she was relishing how it felt. But at the same time, she couldn't help but feel something was _off_ about it as well. It was as if it wasn't the same despair she was used to.

And it confused her.

"I-I just w-wanted you to know," the video of Fujisaki continued, "t-that I'm sorry, okay? I-I never meant to hurt you, at all. I-I t-truly did cherish our friendship, however brief." He sniffed. "P-Part of me...wishes I could confess even now..." His eyes began to water again. "B-But I can't...I-I just can't...Because I'm too weak...and frightened." He stated. "I-I'm hoping you can f-f-forgive me..." He begged.

The tears flowing from Naegi's face were only more obvious to Kirigiri at this time, seeing them trailing from her eyes as her lips trembled.

"A-Anyway, I-I don't know if I'll say anything to you in p-person if I'm discovered, b-but if I do, j-just know... I-I want you to get stronger." He requested. "This place, Naegi...I-It's not a place for people like me, those w-who are weak. Y-You're stronger than I could ever be," he complimented with a heartened smile, "to be able to live up to your gender, and not be ashamed of it. It's amazing, b-but it won't be enough."

"You need to be able to bare all the pain, and continue pressing onward. You need to be able to accept the realities around you, and move forward while fighting it. O-Otherwise..." He paused a final time to wipe his face clear. "O-Otherwise people will just keep h-hurting you...Even if they don't intend to. And you'll end up like...me." Despite how hard it was to continue recording, Fujisaki managed to wipe the rest of his tears away as he began to finish.

"A-Anyway, I have to go. W-With all that's happened, I hadn't even finished setting up my plan." He gave a faint, hardy laughter at that. "Ah ha ha, i-isn't it funny? I-I haven't even finished...A-Almost like I want m-myself to be caught, huh...?" With one last tear rolling down his face, he smiled. "In closing, I-I'm leaving Alter Ego with you-...no...All of you." He said with firm conviction. "He may be one of the only keys you guys have left to getting out of this p-place. Consider him my last ounce of s-strength. I-I really hope he can help."

Fujisaki opened his eyes one last time, looking directly at the monitor. "A-And Naegi...?"

Naegi's tear-filled eyes looked sharply at the monitor. She couldn't help but cringe even as Fujisaki was giving her a heartwarming smile. "T-Thank you...for being a good friend. Take care of yourself."

And with that, Fujisaki was seen pressing a button on the computer, upon which the video immediately ended. Alter Ego's face reappeared a few seconds after, awaiting the next input or any questions anyone else had.

But there wasn't any reply, nor any input for awhile. All there was were a room full of teenagers, and a silent atmosphere.

No one knew what to say to that. If there had ever been any lingering doubt before about Fujisaki's personality, then this was the proof to erase it. He wasn't the delusional fiend he attempted to make himself out to be at the trial. He was a kind hearted, sincerely sweet, boy, who just ended up being a victim of circumstance. There was an unjust and intolerable anger for some of the classmates, feeling anger towards themselves for being forced to vote Fujisaki as the culprit. It was unfair, and it was heartbreaking. But out of all of it, came concern from their friend, Naegi.

It wasn't any surprise to Kirigiri. Looking back at Naegi, she had her head lowered as her body was currently shaking. She couldn't hear any audible noises coming from her, but she could still see the tears coming down her face. Perhaps the video was a bad idea to play in front of her? Or perhaps she was grieving now to move forward. With Naegi, Kirigiri could never tell what was going on. She was an undecided factor in all specs until the very end.

Wanting to check on her hollowed friend, she slowly, gently, raised a hand over to her shoulder. For the first in a long time, Kirigiri had little to no clue as to how to approach the situation. All she could tell was that she had to be careful.

"Naegi-" Was all the time she had to say. Before any of them could react, Naegi suddenly bolted away from the room in a mad dash, not looking back towards anyway as she past them.

None of them could figure out what to do from that situation. They all knew that they were worried for their friend, but at the same time, none of them could decide what to do or say. It was hard to lose a friend, but much harder when their parting words were only to tell you to stay safe, even if they attacked you earlier. Everyone looked amongst themselves, stumped at what to do now. This was just one of those situations where you knew you had to say something, but couldn't figure out what to say.

Amongst all the confused students, Ikusaba as the one to finally make a move as she started walking towards the door. With everyone else being too preoccupied among themselves, her walking away was enough to catch everybody's attention.

"I'm going to go check up on her." She stated pausing for a moment to look back.

Kirigiri still didn't trust her, especially now. "But-!" She began to retort.

"Don't worry," Ikusaba interrupted smiling, "I'm a soldier, remember?" She turned her back to the group as she continued walking out. "No one knows more about loss than I do..." She told them.

Despite Kirigiri's distrust of the girl, even she knew, to everyone else, that she was right. A soldier knows the hardships of loss from the battlefield. As long as the others were around, she couldn't openly object to any of Ikusaba's statements, at least for now...

...

...

...

"Naaaaaaaegiiiiiiiiiiiiii?" Ikusaba called out, looking around the hallways. She knew with only so many places around this school that were "safe", she couldn't have gone for. "Naaaaaaaegi? Are you alright?" She called out again.

"Luuuurgehhhh!" She heard what sounded like the someone throwing up. Knowing about Naegi's history in her past few days of the school, she knew the sound was coming from her. The only question was where?

That question revealed in itself as Ikusaba found Naegi's bedroom door wide open, heading over to it with curiosity.

Taking a quick peek in the room, she found herself momentarily surprised with confusion as she couldn't see Naegi anywhere inside. Walking into the room, she was greeted with another sound which resembled someone barfing, coming from her right.

It was there that she had finally found Naegi, her head hunched over a bucket with a bit of drool off to the side of her face. Strangely enough, she was apparently outside the bathroom door, which was thoroughly closed shut. Whatever she did do, she could only assume that the bathroom was somehow related to it.

Looking back at Naegi, she slowly approached her as she extended her hand towards her shoulder. "Naegi...? Naegi, are you alright?" She asked, gently tapping her shoulder.

Naegi nearly jumped in fear when she tapped him, in turn causing her to jump slightly as well. Taking the time to look closer, she noticed how Naegi's eyes were slightly puffy and red, with dry tear marks on some sides and still fresh ones on others. She was still hanging onto the bucket as she sniffled and hiccupped quietly with her lip still trembling.

Ikusaba couldn't tell how to handle this. She had always dealt with despair, that's a fact. What she hadn't dealt with is how to overcome despair, especially for someone else. For people like her, they envied despair, loved despair, and every feeling that came with it. For others though, despair was a source of great sorrow and fear, which no one wanted.

"...Naegi?" She began reaching towards her shoulder again. This time she managed to touch it without complication or major reaction from her, but she still lowered her head.

"I-I-Iksaba..." She cried. "I...I-I couldn't do it..." Ikusaba tilted her head confused.

"Do it? Do what, sweetie?" She asked, kneeling down with her. Naegi sniffled a bit before replying.

"I...I couldn't get p-past it..." She said. "I-I'm too weak..." She hiccupped again.

Ikusaba glanced back at the door. She knew all about Maizono and Kuwata, and knew how Naegi was too traumatized to ever use it again. At the same time, she was rather impressed she was trying to confront her despair instead of succumbing to it. It was brave.

Still, she couldn't obviously let on that she knew about the trauma entirely, so she continued to play oblivious.

"What, with the bathroom?" She asked. Naegi trembled slightly even as she tried to respond.

"Af-After w-what happened with Maizono...I ca-...I can't b-bring myself to ever go back in." She cried. Ikusaba took the liberty to gently wipe her tears away a little. "Ev-Every time...Every time I do, I j-just...I see it again...the way that body looked...I-I...Nnghgh..." She groaned with both sadness, and an uneasy feeling in her stomach once more.

"I c-can't...I'm too weak!" She sobbed, squeezing her hands into her eyes.

Ikusaba was beside herself at the sight. She relished the pleasure despair from herself, or the despair that others had brought her. But Naegi's despair...It was different. It was saddening all the same, but at the same time, it was, strangely to her, somewhat sickening. It wasn't the same type of despair she could enjoy beholding.

And she knew how to remedy the situation.

"Naegi..." She spoke. "Naegi, look it- look at me..." She ordered, gently pulling her chin with the tip of her fingers. Naegi continued to sniffle as she tried to calm down somewhat. "Do you want to get stronger?" Ikusaba asked.

Naegi stared at her for a few seconds, wiping her tears away the best she could.

"Wh...What?" Naegi asked.

"Do you want to get stronger?" Ikusaba repeated. Even with all she's been through, all Naegi wanted to do was make her friend's wish come true. She wanted to leave this place alive. With a somewhat timid expression, she nodded.

"Y-Yes..." She cried, trying to keep herself from tearing up anymore.

Ikusaba smiled to her as she gently helped Naegi up to her legs, smiling the entire time. Naegi couldn't help but smile slightly back. She was glad despite just meeting, that Ikusaba had a kind heart to at least be willing to help someone she had only just met earlier today. It proved to Naegi that she was a good person.

"Good." Ikusaba said calmly. After a few seconds, her attention shifted towards the door. At the sight of a hand being raised towards it, Naegi felt a tremor in her heart.

"W-Wait, w-what are you doing...?" Her voice wavered with unsteady hands.

Ikusaba froze for a bit as she glanced back at Naegi. She had hoped this wouldn't leave too terrible of an impression on her.

"...I'm sorry." She quickly apologized.

Before Naegi had time to react, she was suddenly pulled into the door that Ikusaba opened, who had shut it tightly behind her immediately after entering. All at once, a wave of nausea and disorder overcame Naegi. Images and flashes of the dead body, the blood splattered across the wall, everything, began to play out in front of her at once.

"Nngh-!" Naegi groaned as her stomach swished. "N-No, NOOO!" She began yelling. She tried reaching back for the door handle quickly, only for her arms to be held back by Ikusaba. "N-No! No! Lemme out of here!" She pleaded.

"No, Naegi." Ikusaba said sternly. "You'll never be able to get past this if you keep looking forward in fear!" She yelled.

"Tch-! Nnghh!" Naegi clasped a hand over her mouth, feeling an unsettling rumbling sensation in her stomach. Ikusaba quickly reacted to the sight as she pulled Naegi over to the toilet, quickly placing Naegi's head over it.

"Blaaurrrrgh!" Naegi upchucked, fortunately spilling her breakfast into the toilet bowl. "Houuuuhghhhhhhh!" She squirmed, as she barfed a second time. Ikusaba noticed the pause in Naegi's breathing and quickly flushed the toilet again.

"P-Please...P-Please, let me g-get out...!" Naegi cried again, trying to race towards the door a few feet from them. "Let me o-Mmmhhh!" Naegi was suddenly silenced as Ikusaba through a hand over her mouth.

In one swift motion, one which Naegi could only assume came with the practice of being a soldier, Ikusaba suddenly had her back against the wall, sitting against the floor with Naegi in her lap. To be perfectly accurate, she had both her legs around Naegi's waist and over her legs, keeping them against the ground firmly. With her left arm, she had it thrown against Naegi's chest, pinning both her arms against her. And with her free hand, she had it firmly set across Naegi's mouth, muffling any sounds she could scream.

There was no way for Naegi to get out, especially against someone with Ikusaba's strength and caliber.

Naegi herself was in a bind- both metaphorically and literally speaking. There she was, trapped against all hope, being positions so that she could see the showerhead perfectly ahead of her. The entire time, the images of the dead body, murder, blood, kept replaying over and over again in her mind. Her eyes trembled with panic as tears began flowing down them once more.

No matter how hard she was struggling, Ikusaba would not let go. She couldn't blame her for this. Not that she didn't want to, but at the time, all that was going on in her mind was the horrific images that have plagued and traumatized her for the past weeks. Even against all her protest, she was to stay put until she finally got over it.

This was Ikusaba's solution.

"Nnnnhhhhhh!" Naegi cried into her hand, trying to get loose with little result. She could feel Ikusaba resting her chin on top of her head.

"I know Naegi, I know." She said. "But you have to do this. On a battlefield, you can't have anything holding you back. No fear, no hesitations, and no chances." Even as she continued to listen, Naegi continued to squirm against Ikusaba's hold. She was at least a fighter to a sense. "You never get a second chance to do one thing in the world. If you try to second guess yourself or anything, it'll cost you lives."

Unbeknownst to Naegi, Ikusaba couldn't help but frown as she turned away. "No matter how painful it is, you have to bare through it the entire time. If you don't, you put yourself and others at risk." She continued. She couldn't help but rub her own cheek into Naegi's hair. "And if you keep putting yourself at risk...you lose everything."

With all this in mind, Naegi nevertheless continued to struggle. The tears continued to flow, and the sadness continued to on.

...

...

...

It wasn't until an undetermined amount of time later on that Naegi suddenly awoke once more. Like before, she was greeted with the visage of her dead friend and scenery in the room. But this time, like a really old film on a player, it suddenly began to burn out.

The images that had once horrified and traumatized her to no end, were slowly vanishing right before her. It was slightly amazing to her. It was as if the images had truly not existed to her at all, like it hadn't to everyone else. As the last of the images began to dissipate, they slowly began changing in vivid, distorted, colors, slowly coming to an end all together.

With her eyes fully opened, she rubbed the somewhat dried tears in her eyes a final time to make sure she wasn't hallucinating anymore. The fact she was able to rub her eyes at all, it suddenly dawned to her that Ikusaba wasn't holding her back. Looking around, she came to realize that at some point, Ikusaba had fallen asleep like she had, slouched against the walls with her arms to her side. Even her legs were barely on her at this point.

Even though it was gone, Naegi had to make sure. She had to assure herself that the hallucinations were gone for good. She slowly got up, pulling Ikusaba's legs from her side, and slowly crawled over to the shower itself. Yet, this small act was enough to awaken Ikusaba from her slumber, who watched with blurry eyes as Naegi moved over to the shower themselves.

Reaching the end of the wall of the shower, Naegi kneeled in surprise. She reached out towards the empty air, as if expecting to touch something. But there was nothing. No body, no blood, no anything, except for the wall. Tapping the wall fully, she began to slightly chuckle nervously.

The tears still rolled down her eyes as she lowered her head.

"N-Naegi...?" Ikusaba called over, rubbing her somewhat sleepy eyes as she walked over. She was a bit surprised as Naegi looked back to her with a still teary expression.

"T-There...There was never anything here, was there?" She realized with a nervous grin. Ikusaba couldn't help but feel slightly worried, noticing Naegi still smiling despite the ease finally upon her.

"Naegi...W-What's wrong?" She asked, wiping Naegi's tears a bit. Naegi lowered her head, still trying to put on a brave face despite the sadness.

"I-It's gone, that's all..." She replied. "T-The trauma's over...a-and they're gone. M-Maizono, Kuw-wata...Togami and F-Fu-Fujisaki..." She lowered herself to her knees and hands as she sniffled. "I-I...I realize that now..." She accepted the truth. But much to Ikusaba's confusion, Naegi's expression was still filled with despair. "B-But...i-it doesn't...it doesn't hurt any less...Tch..." Naegi couldn't help herself as she finally cried once more.

Ikusaba felt a bit of a soft spot for the crying brunette, easing herself until she was sitting against the shower wall like the other, and resting Naegi's head into her lap. She gently stroked Naegi's head gently to comfort her.

Naegi had finally come to terms with her Trauma; her friends were gone, and for better or worse, there was no coming back. Her unwillingness to accept the idea that her friends were truly dead had manifested itself into a form of fear for her, causing her to be traumatized and witness the hallucinations that had haunted her for the time.

She had always accepted the idea they were gone, or so she thought, but she had yet to accept the idea that they could come back. With all Ikusaba had done with her just now, she finally knew that no matter how hard it hurt, she would have to understand, that nothing would bring her friends back. At the least, she needed to move on with that fact, even if she did carry it with her until the end.

"They're gone...for good...a-and it still hurts..." She cried, squeezing her eyes tightly as a way to stop the tears. Ikusaba simply smiled at her as she pet her head.

"I know, I know..." She replied softly. Memories of all she had and had lost over the years slowly flew back to her. It saddened her, to a degree that she could enjoy off of, to remember those days. "Sometimes things just happen, but you can't always accept responsibility for them. Sometimes...you just have to accept them, even if they're not your fault. You know what I mean, Naegi?"

She waited a few seconds for a reply. Without one responding, she suddenly looked down in confusion. "Naegi?" She repeated.

Much to her surprise, Naegi had suddenly fallen asleep again for a final time. After all the trauma and stress the young girl had gone through for the day, she supposed it was to be expected. She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, thinking to herself how Naegi, in her own way, was just a little fighter Even though Naegi took awhile to accept it, she still fought in her own way to accept her reality.

From her perspective, it was kind of cute. As she thought to herself, she couldn't help but notice her eyes feeling droopy too. After falling asleep earlier, it wasn't too unsurprising if several hours had already passed. Since she saw how Naegi had the right idea, she decided join in Naegi's slumber, trying her best get comfortable as she closed her eyes.

*creeeeea-*

That's until she heard the door to the bathroom suddenly creek open. Her combat reflexes instantly kicked in from this sudden noise, seeing the door opening with such silence, almost as if someone was trying to sneak up on them. She had a stern expression on her face as she suddenly pulled a pen from her shirt pocket, holding it with the tip pointing outward, ready to defend both herself, and Naegi. Even with something as simple as a pen, she knew about 17 different ways to kill somebody with it.

Much to her surprise, as well as the one opening the door, she realized it was Kirigiri who opened the door, looking back at her with a shocked expression on her face. It was one of the few rooms Kirigiri had ever anticipated finding Naegi in, and perhaps the last of those few rooms as well. She was more surprised by this than the fact Ikusaba had a pen for a weapon. She knew she was a soldier, so she wasn't too worried. She just didn't want any formal weaponry lying around for people like her.

Blinking curiously, she slouched against the side of the door with her arms crossed.

"Well this is a bit of a surprise..." She commented quietly. Ikusaba gave a small smile as she put the pen away.

"Oh, it's only you, Kirigiri." She replied quietly, not wanting to wake up Naegi either. Kirigiri couldn't help but smile as well as she walked over carefully, kneeling next to Ikusaba to see Naegi for a closer observation.

"It looks like you might've had a bit of work done." She said, noticing Naegi's brightened expression as she slept. "I don't think I've seen her in awhile without a true smile on her face."

"Hmhm," Ikusaba chuckled, stroking Naegi's head, "we had a bit of ups and downs, but I'd say things worked out for themselves." She frowned slightly looking away. "I had to force her though to come in here, though." She revealed. Kirigiri looked at her with a questionable feeling.

"You brought her in here?" She asked for clarification. "You've been here before today then..."

Ikusaba looked at her a bit before shaking her head. "Nooo..." She frowned slightly. "She told me she wanted to get stronger no matter the cost, and I wanted to help." She looked down at Naegi once more. "I hope I didn't make things worse by acting rash..."

Kirigiri shook her head, continuing to smile softly. "If we come across that bridge, we'll work through it. But for the time being, it looks like everything played out alright." She responded. Ikusaba watched as she stood up again. "Wait here..." She requested, leaving the room briefly. After a few seconds, Ikusaba smiled as she saw that Kirigiri apparently brought back some of Naegi's blankets from her bed. "You kind of look like you'll be here for awhile, so...here." She said, handing over the blankets.

Ikusaba nodded as she took the blanket, gently placing it over most of Naegi's body, and most of her own legs. "Thanks, Kirigiri." She thanked. Kirigiri shook her head with a smile.

"No need to thank me. Just promise to watch over Naegi," she requested, looking back to Naegi one last time, "she could use a good friend to stay by her side this time." She began turning back towards the doorway, pausing as she stood between the opening, reaching for the light switch. "I think I owe you an apology too, Ikusaba." She smiled back to her one more time. "I should've trusted you from the start. You're a good person." She complimented.

Ikusaba smiled as she closed her eyes. "It's alright Kirigiri. I'm not good with first impressions anyway, so nice I could prove myself to you guys." She replied, leaning back once more to get a comfortable night's sleep. With a smile, Kirigiri shut the lights before closing the door, leaving the room in pitch black.

Waiting until she was assured Kirigiri had left Naegi's bedroom altogether, Ikusaba grinned slyly. Covering one hand over Naegi's ear, she turned her transmitter on once more. On the off chance she did wake up Naegi, with her hand covering her ear, she could just say how she was seeing if Naegi was awake or not. After a bit of static, the transmission finally cleared up.

"Are you there?" Ikusaba whispered.

"Dawwwww sissyyyyy!" The voice responded in a cutesy-like tone. "You and wittle Naegi just make an adowable cowple." She commented.

"Tch, you say that with any couple I'm with." She reminded. "Anyway, I don't think we'll have to worry about Kirigiri anymore." The voice was silent for a few seconds at this statement, then replied.

"Ooooh, did somebuddy go and kill hew? I hope dat person recowded it so I can watch it agains and agains and agains!" She cheered.

"Hmph, no, nothing like that." Ikusaba replied, much to the voices dismay.

"Dooooowwww..." It pouted.

"But I did gain her trust, so I think were finally in." She added. She could easily hear her partner's voice over the transmitter, chuckling with wicked glee.

"Teehee, excellent work!" It congratulated. "Just make sure to keep your cover. She might trust you now, but she's like a time bomb. She can distrust you instantly at the slightest twitch." It said.

"No need to be concerned. I'll keep my eye on her either way. Good night." She stated.

"Night-night!" The voice replied in a cutesy-tone again before ending the transmission. Ikusaba snuggled against the wall as she began to catch some sleep.

"So far, so good..." She mumbled quietly.

...

...

...

At the same time, Kirigiri sighed as she closed Naegi's bedroom door, having it already locked from the inside. As expected, Asahina and Hagakure were still standing there with expectant looks on their face.

"Well, are they in there dude?" Hagakure asked curiously.

"Is she fine?" Asahina wondered as well, worriedly. Kirigiri nodded with a smile to the both of them.

"It's fine. In fact, Ikusaba AND Naegi, are both sleeping peacefully in Naegi's bathroom." She added. Both, Asahina and Hagaukure gasped, but, sadly, for different reasons entirely...

"W-Wait, sleeping? Like in, together dude?!" He gasped. "Wow! Nags really does swing that way I guess!" Asahina shot him a confused look, and for more than just the usual reasons.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Hahaha," Hagakure laughed, patting Asahina's shoulder, "oh, don't be so modest, 'Hina. You know what I mean!" He assured, remembering what Ishimaru and Owada (thought) Monokuma said about Naegi the other day.

Asahina really didn't, but knew it was better than to ask him for anything related to an answer. She just decided to smile back to Kirigiri. "Well, I guess Ikusaba's better than we thought after all, I mean if she managed to even fix Naegi's trauma and all." She decided. Kirigiri gave her a nod of agreement.

"It turns out she was nice after all. I guess I was just protective of Naegi after what happened." She said.

"Ah don't sweat it dude," Hagakure began, "we all care about Nags 'round here."

"Heh," Kirigiri chuckled, "I guess you're right." She slightly stretched as she yawned. "Anyway it's getting late. I think I'll turn in early for the night." She announced, already heading towards her room.

"Ok! I'll go let the others know we found Ikusaba and Naegi, then!" Asahina said as she began walking the opposite direction down the hall.

"Good night, you two." Kirigiri waved off as she entered her bedroom for a day's rest.

"Good night!" Both Asahina and Hagakure wished as they waved, heading off to their own destinations soon after.

With the door closed behind her, Kirigiri let out a sigh, then lowered her head in though. Between the doorway and her room, was one of the few blind spots within the entire room that Kirigiri discovered. Knowing that her presence was hidden, at least physically, she started squeezing her fist in anger.

Those few words Ikusaba said repeated in Kirigiri's head to no end...

_"You brought her in here?" She asked for clarification. "You've been here before today then..."_

_Ikusaba looked at her a bit before shaking her head. "Nooo..." She frowned slightly. "She told me she wanted to get stronger no matter the cost, and I wanted to help." She looked down at Naegi once more. "I hope I didn't make things worse by acting rash..."_

"Ikusaba..." Kirigiri muttered under a hateful breath. "If you're who you say you are, how did you know how to open the door to Naegi's bathroom...?" She asked herself squeezing her eyes shut.

_"Ikusaba...I'll never let you out of my sight!"_ Kirigiri declared mentally. For a girl who claimed she knows nothing of what's going on, for her to simply have happened to open the door by chance is nigh impossible.

Kirigiri would never trust her.

And she knew, that Mukuro Ikusaba, was truly someone dangerous...

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A/N: HOOOOOOOOOOFTA! Not bad for a day's convenience, eh ^^? Lol, anyway, here we've finally broken Naegi of her trauma ^^ Yippee! Also, I'm making a new rule- NO MORE UPDATES UNTIL EVERY 3 REVS! I'm sorry, but i just love reviews so much, but despite the amount of work and progress I put it, I feel like I never get that many unless I ask someone specifically X/ Hence forth, from now on, every update will require a minimum of 3 reviews.

I know it sounds bad, but you guys can actually help solve this case ^^ Even if you reviewed one chapter before, if you review multiple and other chapters separately, I'll count those as one review each ^^ Meaning, in simpler terms, if 1 guy reviews about every chapter, that'll count for about 3-updates worth of reviews (added I get to 9 sometime soon).

Regardless, thanks for all the love and support ^^ And to the next guy who reviews, marking it my 10th review, I'll put in a special scene upon your request that you'd like to see happen between Fem Naegi, and any scenario you throw in here ^^

As always, read, like, and review ^^!


	8. A New Naegi, and Motive

A/N: Ok ok, so I lied slightly. I decided to be the guy to post regardless of whether or not he reaches a review quota, like Klonoadreams. To be honest there was a slight misunderstanding there because I thought she had some sort of trick or something that expert Fanfic-ers use to get more reviews more often. I see a lot of famous fanfic-writers do it so I thought it was some gimmick people used or something like a merchant trying to advertise or whatever : /

*sigh* Anyway, I'm also proud to announce, that for once in my life, this chapter has reached a spectacular 10,000 WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS *dramatic theme beats*… My all time highest record for words within a fanfic ^^ To be honest, I didn't even see it coming! I wrote the first 1/3 of Ikusaba giving Naegi a makeover the other day, then today I wrote the rest of it. But imagine my surprise when I had nearly 9.8k words written! So, in order to make an excuse and get some extra words to reach said limit, I wrote this little A/N to fill in the missing extra words I needed (hooray for laziness XP)

Lol, anyway, please enjoy the show-er…Fanfic ^^!

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"Hmm…hmm…hmm…" Was one of the only sounds that came from the bathroom as the shower ran. You probably wouldn't know the source of the somewhat cheerful sounding voice before hand, but believe it or not, that was the voice of Makoto Naegi. Before today, you wouldn't even see Naegi using the same bathroom in her room for just about any reason. About two weeks ago, she was trapped within this dreaded school, where a game of Mutual School Killing had started.

The rules of the game were literally Kill or be Killed. Each week, someone had gone and committed said murder, with the motives behind the killing always coming from the headmaster, Monokuma. It didn't even take much to get the first murder going, either. All Monokuma had to do was show everyone a light-hearted video of their friends and family, and in only two days, the first killing occurred. What made it so special though? It's because the murder occurred directly in Naegi's bathroom.

Now obviously, Naegi wasn't the killer. Because of this, she was still standing and breathing. However, by the time the true culprit was caught and the class trial had ended, it left behind something that Naegi couldn't deal with; Trauma. Within a school of possible murders, naturally not everyone was affected to such a high degree as Naegi was. At the same time, they didn't have to deal with a dead body landing on them, still dripping with blood, and first thing in the morning. The only common response was to scream and pass out for some people.

The other response this brought her was a week's worth of life-scarring trauma. Ever since she experienced the horror of such a sight, she was too traumatized to even open the doorway anymore without so much as throwing up. Every time she would so much as glance inside the room, her vision was filled with nightmarish images of the murder, the blood across the room, the way the dead body looked upon finding it, nearly everything the room had to do with the murder. And because of this trauma, Naegi was, more or less, forced to use the public bath house and bathroom to avoid complications.

It wasn't until just yesterday that she finally broke free of her horrendous trauma, all thanks to the new mysterious student who had also showed up- Mukuro Ikusaba. To think that within just a day's worth of everybody meeting her, that it would also be the same day she managed to cure Naegi of her Trauma. Granted, her method of literally forcing Naegi into the bathroom and trapping her within it until she got over it may not have been the most plausible method for doing so. Not everyone's trauma can be cured with such methods in fact. Yet, Naegi was one of those fortunate few, who've managed to finally overcome their trauma by facing it head on.

And because of it, here she finally was, able to have a simple shower within her own room. It definitely made the trip to a washroom a lot less exhausting, seeing how she would usually need to travel down the hallways each time in her pajamas and clothes, then change there. Then she would have to come back to her room just to put her PJ's away, then head from there back to the lunchroom for the morning meeting. No matter how fast she was, this would usually take up to at least a half hour, and she really couldn't afford to be late for the morning meetings, less she wishes to contend with Ishimaru's near-dozen rants and shouting about how "it's important for members of society to always be efficient and on time" and whatnot.

Which brings us all back to the present, where Naegi could finally shower in piece. Just her, her soaps and shampoos', Ikusaba washing her hair, scrubbing her arms and le-

Naegi's eyes suddenly widened at the realization that someone was scrubbing her hair while she was still in the middle of rubbing her body, turning around in freight. "Aaacck!" She shrieked, covering herself in certain parts for privacy. "W-What are you doing in here Ikusaba?" Ikusaba gave her a questionable look, like she had no idea what the problem was.

"What? I'm just helping you wash your hair." She replied. She gave her a simple smile as she turned Naegi around again, continuing. "Now hold still roomie, if you don't apply soap to all of it at once, it'll take longer to straighten it out and dry." She told her. Naegi raised her brow.

"R…Roomie?" She asked.

"Well yeah, I'm gonna be your new roommate!" Ikusaba cheered.

Naegi couldn't help but blush as she steadily returned to scrubbing the rest of herself. "Erm…Ikusaba…N-Not that I exactly mind, but why are you moving in with me?"

"Well, I did check all the other rooms on the map," she paused briefly as she directed the shower head directly over Naegi to wash out the soap, "but according to the e-Handbook, all the other rooms are taken." She explained.

In reality, this was a lie and even she knew it. At this point, there were at least five separate rooms which were unoccupied, but all of which were rooms previously owned by the now-deceased students who've lost their lives up to this point. Ikusaba knew this quite well, given her background. However, she needed to do all she could to play ignorance, doing her best to keep her cover by any means or actions necessary.

At the same time, Naegi wasn't a hundred-percent sure about this, but she didn't necessarily want to argue either. If it wasn't for Ikusaba, she wouldn't be able to even use her shower right now, having helped Naegi with what she's gone through so far. She was indeed a good friend, one that Naegi had deeply wanted to stick with her this time.

...Yet she couldn't help but find some of her "activities" questionable...

"Hmm..." Ikusaba hummed in a curious tone. Naegi shifted her eyes back to her.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

"Well... To me it just seems like your hair's lengthened some." She commented.

"Lengthened?" She wondered. She couldn't help but find that remark strange. Ikusaba flinched mentally at her sudden comment, quickly catching herself.

"I-I mean as opposed to usual. I've seen plenty of hair in my day and I've grown to a sense to tell when one's hair has grown larger than it should be." She quickly explained.

"Huh...I didn't know you could tell if hair was overgrown or not." Naegi replied as she continued washing.

Ikusaba sighed silently, grateful that she had actually bought such a story. She guessed part of it was due to the trauma she overcame recently. It was probably still distracting her thinking too deeply on it. At least she hoped it was the case.

Naegi swished her hair around to get a feel of it. It actually was surprisingly long, at least compared to when she last checked it. She could feel it just coming down to the back of her shoulders, which was weird because she could've sworn she just got a haircut prior to coming to Hope's Peak Academy.

"Guess I should consider getting it cut soon." Naegi suggested. Ikusaba smiled as she tapped her chin.

"Mmh... Maybe not." She replied.

"Huh?"

"Just trust me. I got a little surprise for ya. Now hold still, I still need to finish scrubbing."

"W-Wait, what do you-!" Naegi's eyes lit up at the feeling as her cheeks turned dark red. "Ahhh! What are you doing?!" She nearly flipped.

"Oh relax, we're both girls here, remember?"

...

...

...

"Makeover!" Ikusaba exclaimed happily, holding two paper bags in both her hands.

Naegi could only stand and stare for a brief time, trying to contemplate what she had just heard. Out of all the "surprises" she expected, she didn't expect her to come forward and announce she was going to give Naegi a makeover. Given the fact she only had her undergarments on and a towel wrapped around her though, she still didn't have much room to argue.

Between the two of them, Ikusaba was the only one to get dressed here. She wouldn't allow Naegi to even leave the bathroom until she was finished and got out the surprise she had in her hands. Naegi wasn't even given any clothes, save for her bra and panties, being forced to wait, slightly cold, while waiting for Ikusaba.

Even with Naegi's new and relaxed state, she wasn't completely clueless about the things happening around here. She couldn't help but find the current situation slightly awkward for multiple reasons. Naegi could only stare with a curious expression on her face as she looked at the bags she held in her hands.

"Umm...what?" Naegi questioned. Ikusaba continued to smile as she set the bags on Naegi's bed. From what little Naegi could see sticking out of the bag, she had a wide variety of shirts, skirts, and pants all waiting for her to try on within said bags.

"Like I said, makeover!" Ikusaba said with glee. Naegi looked at the bags curiously as she walked over to the bed.

"A...A makeover?" Naegi repeated. She was so focused on the clothes that she didn't realize Ikusaba had a hold of her towel until it was too late.

*Swiff*

"Ah!" Naegi yelped, suddenly being spun around fully as her towel was yanked off, and barely nude. Like before, she couldn't help but cover herself with a slight blush. "What are you doing?!" She nearly yelled.

"Aww relax, Naegi. We're both girls here." Ikusaba reminded.

"Y-Yeah, b-but still!" Naegi's blush deepened. Ikusaba just rolled her eyes as she patted Naegi's head.

"Ah, don't be such a downer. Like I said, I'm giving you a makeover." She replied.

"Um...why?" Naegi asked.

"Well, as your new roommate, I'm officially putting myself in charge of making sure you're not all mopey. Seriously, it's really a buzz-kill." Ikusaba groaned. Naegi couldn't help but lower her head slightly.

"S-Sorry..." She muttered.

Ikusaba couldn't help but frown at this as well. She liked seeing Naegi all cheerful and excited, especially since it made the despair more enjoyable later on. But she knew she couldn't really blame Naegi for her behavior the either, which is why she was smacking herself in her head for forgetting.

Not once but twice by now, Naegi had trusted two of her closest friends with her heart, and twice already, they've both betrayed her in one form or another. For her to go through that in the time she's been here, obviously anyone would be pessimistic and untrusting of anyone else.

Even she found herself feeling bad for Naegi. After all she had _just_ came to Hope's Peak academy and thrown into a game of Mutual Killing. She already had enough on her mind right now. And she knew some people would've snapped at this point, especially if they went through the same trauma Naegi's suffered through these past days. She was actually quite in awe that Naegi could stand on her own two feet and continue after all she's been through.

With a smile, she gently pulled Naegi to her side, giving her a small hug with her right arm.

"Hey, hey, don't be like that." She said, trying to cheer her up. She looked back to the bag of clothes across the bed. "It's not like it's your fault or anything. I'm just speaking from a soldier's viewpoint." She stated. Naegi turned her gaze up to her.

"A soldier's viewpoint?" She asked.

"Well, yeah." Ikusaba began pulling and sorting the clothes out of the bag, taking some out and displaying it in front of Naegi to get an idea of how they would look on her. "Each day I'm on the battlefield or in a war, no matter what happens, I have to make sure I'm at 110% with my emotions." She said.

"At any time, I have to be sure I don't have even the slightest hesitation, no matter who my targets are. Compared to some of the wars I've been in, this feels like nothing more than a vacation to me." She added.

"But don't you still regret it afterwards?" Naegi asked. Ikusaba paused at this remark, getting taken by surprise from such a question.

"E-Excuse me?" She asked. Naegi crossed her arms as she stared up in thought.

"W-Well, I'm just speaking from my viewpoint. I mean, if I was a soldier, I don't think I could handle having to take peoples lives for a living, especially being able to live with myself with all those feelings afterwards." She said, giving her opinion.

Ikusaba could only smile slightly. She can't remember the last time someone was considerate of her own feelings before. Yes, in fact, it did make her feel terrible from having to kill all those people, some of whom were innocent, others were terrible. She was just a gun for higher. Of course, she didn't mind it all the same, because with each person she had to kill, it only brought her more and more despair, and it was gratifying.

Still, she did find it cute how Naegi was curious about her own emotions. And she still had to make sure she didn't seem too heartless, less Naegi become more nervous around her and start distrusting her more.

"Well, I guess it's just a matter of perspective." Ikusaba replied, sorting through the clothes again. "Personally, I don't entirely see myself as the killer." She told her.

"Really?...Why?" Naegi asked tapping her own chin.

"Well, when it comes right down to it, I'm just a gun for hire, like a mercenary. But I'm not the person going around and killing others for her own benefit. I'm just the weapon people used to fulfill their own desires, not killer in actuality. I mean, after all, I'm not the one who's deciding to kill these people just for the heck of it. Over all, it's just another job to me." Ikusaba explained.

"Oh...I guess I kind of get the idea." Naegi shrugged. "Still...don't you ever question the people you're fighting sometimes? Like, what if they're the good guys and all?"

"Hehe," Ikusaba chuckled, "I guess not. If I did, I couldn't be considered the Ultimate Soldier, now could I?" She asked Naegi.

"Point taken." Naegi admitted.

She guessed she would have to accept the reality of it. After all, they don't share the same mindset. Then again, perhaps this was just Ikusaba's way of coping with all she had to put herself through. If it was, the last thing she wanted to do was pry too deeply for information. Aside from being rude, it would be unsettling if Naegi somehow ended up causing emotional problems for her now just after she finished fixing her own with Ikusaba's help.

"By the way," Naegi started again, "I'm a bit surprised a soldier would be so concerned with appearance or fashion."

"Well, when it comes to many different missions, I always need to have a certain uniform or vest covering me most of the time. Doesn't mean I can't be a bit stylish while doing it though." She said cheerfully. "Besides, it helps with the attitude-"

"And you need a positive attitude on the battlefield, right?" Naegi finished with an expectant grin.

"Hmhmhm," Ikusaba chuckled, "now you're getting it." Naegi scratched the back of her head with uncertainty.

"Well...I guess I can try out a new look." She admitted. "But I don't really have a problem wi-"

"Nonsense!" Ikusaba interrupted. She took out another outfit, displaying it over Naegi from her viewpoint and letting out a curious hum to herself. "From all the people I meet, whenever it comes to another girl, they always dress differently due to personal reasons. I can already tell yours."

"You can?"

"Indeed I can. It's because you're ugly." Ikusaba joked. Naegi's cheeks briefly puffed up.

"I am not!" She whined.

"Relax, I was kidding!" Ikusaba laughed. She sat on the bed looking back at Naegi with intrigue. "I would like to know your reason though." She said.

Naegi looked down at the floor unsure of how to explain. "Well...I guess I just didn't care much." She replied, somewhat to Ikusaba's surprise.

"You don't care about your appearance?" She asked.

"Well...Well not to the point where I cared about my clothes at least." She responded, sitting next to Ikusaba on the bed. She still covered her chest slightly, but mostly due to the slight chill from the A.C. she was feeling.

"Growing up, in school, a lot of people kept making fun of me. Most of the time, people kept saying how I looked like a boy even though I was a girl. And when I tried dressing more like a boy to stop them, the girls would make fun of me after, and before I knew it, everybody was." She explained.

"Huh, sounds tough." Ikusaba commented. Naegi scratched her head.

"Personally, I think part of it was because I never let my hair grow long. My parents always thought it'd be best to keep it at a certain height." She thought aloud. "Anyway, over time I didn't really care anymore about what clothes I wore, and I didn't really have the problem after Junior High started...except when I had to change for Gym class, that caused some issues..." She added.

Ikusaba just smiled as she ruffled Naegi's hair. "Sounds like you had a miserable life for the most part." Naegi let out a deep breath.

"Huff, it got rather sad at times to be honest. Sometimes it didn't feel like anyone accepted me." She pulled her legs up onto the bed as she curled her arms around her knees.

Ikusaba couldn't help but look at Naegi with fascination. _Dealing with sadness most of her life... Facing ridicule and teasing... Never giving up on life..._ Ikusaba thought to herself, growing a grin as Naegi looked away. _She definitely qualifies..._

She pulled Naegi closer to her side once more, giving her a slight hug. "You know Naegi, I think I know quite a few people who would be interesting in meeting you..." Ikusaba mentioned. "A lot of people who keep dealing with despair, and-"

Naegi turned to her curiously. "But... I'm not dealing with despair here." She stated. Ikusaba was rather surprised at this statement.

"E-Excuse me?" She questioned. Naegi looked down at her legs again.

"Well...Yeah... I mean, I've been dealing with a lot of sad times, some of which have been hard on me. But I've never given up hope thinking things can get better." She said. Ikusaba didn't know what to make of this.

"H...Hope?"

Naegi nodded. "Well...yeah. I mean... What's the point of giving into despair if all you have is sadness?" Ikusaba bit her lip.

_Damn, guess it's too soon right now. _She cursed in her mind. She had a simple smile on her face once again as she rubbed Naegi's head. "Well anyway, first thing's first! We're keeping that hair. And I think I know a few outfits you might like." She said as she grabbed one of the bags of clothes. Naegi took a curious look inside of it.

"By the way, where did you even get these clothes anyway?" She asked. Ikusaba nearly jumped from worry. Obviously she obtained these clothes from the now deceased students of Hopes Peak, some of which happened to be her friends, but she couldn't just tell her that now could she?

"O-Oh, these? I found some extras in a compartment in the storage room. They had some extra clothes lying around, so I thought it'd be ok." She answered. "Don't worry, anything we don't use, I'll put back later."

"Hmm ok then." Naegi looked through some of the bags of clothes she received. "So...maybe I should try this shirt with-"

"Nope!" Ikusaba said happily, swiping the bag of clothes out of Naegi's hands. Naegi nearly did a double take, surprised at how swift Ikusaba was.

"What now?" She moaned. If she was getting a make over, she'd at least want some input on what to wear.

"You heard what I said! N. O. P. Nop!" Ikusaba cheered. Naegi felt a bit of sweat dripping from behind his head.

"Ummm that spells "Nop", not nope." Naegi corrected. Ikusaba jumped to her feet and turned around.

"Which is exactly my point, Naegi!" Ikusaba exclaimed. "You're just too picky about the minor details. Just sit back, close your eyes, and leave this to me." She requested.

Naegi began rubbing her left arm as she turned away uneasily. Trust was the one factor Naegi was having a hard time dealing with at this point, not just with her, but with anybody. After the incident with her first two friends who betrayed her, she wasn't sure how she was supposed to, or if she ever could again, deal with trusting someone. The last thing she wanted was to be betrayed and go through all the pain like before.

But when it came to Ikusaba, a part of her really wanted to trust her. Even without knowing one another, or so she thought, Ikusaba had done nothing but try to be nice to her for the last 24 hours. On top of that, even having just met her, she even helped break her free from her trauma, something she had yet to do with the others.

She glanced back up nervously only to be greeted by Ikusaba giving her a sweet smile.

"Please Naegi? I promise you won't regret it." She assured. Hesitating for but an moment, Naegi took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Alright...I trust you." She said with a smile, closing her eyes as well.

"Good!" Ikusaba cheered. She grew a small grin as she saw Naegi continuing to close her eyes.

_Just keep trusting me, kid. I promise you'll survive this then..._

...

...

...

"Pleeeease?" Yamada begged, kneeling on the floor with his head lowered.

"No." Kirigiri firm said again, sitting back in her chair.

As per usual, the lunchroom was packed with the remaining survivors of the Mutual School Killings that morning. Everyone was waiting patiently for both, Ikusaba and Naegi, all the while dealing with a geek who wouldn't leave Kirigiri alone. The only exception to this group was Fukawa, who continued to stay within her room until an undetermined amount of time. She wasn't going to leave anytime soon, especially after what happened to her white night.

See, earlier that morning, Kirigiri caught him messing with the computer which housed the computer A.I. Program, Alter Ego. It was a rather advanced piece of technology, and one of their last hopes in uncovering the mysteries of the academy without fear of the headmaster finding out.

However, as Kirigiri saw, Yamada was busy keeping the program preoccupied with pointless banter and chats, wanting to get to know one another as if Alter Ego was an actual human. Normally, this wouldn't be that much of a problem, but much to Kirigiri's surprise, Yamada had been literally up all night chatting with her, or him, perhaps it (?), chatting endlessly. Because of this, the speed of the information Alter Ego was gathering was reduced to a mere 1/4, and only had a full 12% of information processed and uploaded.

So, seeing no other option at the time, Kirigiri simply banned Yamada from ever messing with Alter Ego, or so much as approaching it, ever again. Thus, Yamada was forced to continually cry and beg for Kirigiri to change her mind until she gave in, which wasn't happening any time soon.

"I promise not to ask so many questiiiiions!" Yamada whined again.

"No." Kirigiri repeated.

"Why nooooot? You have to at least let me see her one more time! She's the only girl that ever understands me!" Kirigiri sighed as she pinched her forehead between her eyes.

"I already told you," she said letting go of herself, "she wasn't interested in you, only the questions you were asking. It's a program that works like that." She explained.

"I care not if she's a machine! She's still perfect in her interest and amazement of my life!" Yamada deemed.

"Dude, you do know it's technically a guy, right?" Hagakure commented.

"Do programs even have genders?" Owada questioned, poking his right ear.

"It would be an interesting matter to discuss afterwards, but for now we should continue with our morning meeting." Ishimaru added. Celes looked back to him.

"I thought we were still waiting Ikusaba and Naegi?" She asked. "Unless, of course, you wish to proceed without them."

"Of course we aren't! We must all be present so that there is no confusion between classmates!" Ishimaru stated proudly.

"Meh, I don't know bro," Owada said crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair, "I mean, according to Asahina, she just got over her trauma yesterday, remember? Maybe Ikusaba's still helping her though with some things." He assumed. Hagakure couldn't help but smirk rubbing his nose.

"Oh ho, I bet she's _helping _her alright, heh heh..." He commented. Asahina groaned as she rubbed her head.

"Ok, seriously Hagakure, I keep telling you, she's not into _that_!" Asahina responded.

"Aww c'mon dude, it's nothin' to be ashamed of! I bet you and Nags would make a cute couple!" He praised. Asahina looked away with a bright red blush over her face.

"I-I mean it, stop!" She pleaded. If it wasn't for the deathly glare Oogami suddenly sent Hagakure that sent shivers down his spine, he would've continued.

Everyone's conversations were cut short as they suddenly heard approaching footsteps, followed by the sight of Ikusaba standing in the doorway, smiling.

"Eh hem," she coughed to clear her throat, "ladies, and gentlemen, can I have your attention, please!" She requested. Everyone's curiosity grew a little as their attention shifted. "I'd like to present to you, a brand, new, Makoto Naegi!" She cheered, gesturing her arm towards the door way with her eyes closed.

...

...

...

She opened her eyes again as she realized it was still silent. She saw that apparently Naegi was still standing behind the wall nervously. Moaning slightly, she cleared her throat again as she repeated.

"Eh hem, I saaaaaid! I'd like to present to you, the new Makoto Naegi!" This time she kept her eyes open to watch her. But like before, Naegi just stood in the shadows behind the door, holding onto her sides. She smiled as she chuckled nervously looking back at the others. "Heh heh, would you please give us a moment?" She asked before walking out of view from the doorway.

Some of the students looked at one another briefly, but continued to keep their attention on the doorway. Whatever was going on, they could only hear mumbling as Naegi and Ikusaba spoke. As for what the two were talking about on the other side of that door...

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" Ikusaba whispered.

"Ngh...I-I can't do this! Let's call it off!" Naegi quickly muttered.

"What?" Ikusaba looked surprised. "Why do you want to call it off now? We spent nearly an hour finding you the right outfit!"

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry," Naegi apologized with a slight bow, "b-but I just can't, I'm sorry! I'm too nervous!"

"Look, it's ok to be nervous, don't worry too much on the outfit." Ikusaba said. "Just give it a try, and if you still don't like it, you can switch back in your room." Naegi bit her lip, looking down at her outfit one more time.

"Y-You... Promise I can switch back, and you won't mind?" Naegi asked slightly worried. Ikusaba poked her chin in thought.

"Well, I might keep trying to find a new outfit for you now and then, but otherwise, yeah." She assured. Before Naegi could even reply, Ikusaba grabbed hold of her hands, which were partly covered by the sleeves of her new outfit. "C'mon, it'll be just fine. Just one step after the other..." She said in a firm but soothing voice.

Everyone watched as Ikusaba slowly began walking back into view, walking backwards as she appeared to be leading someone with her. At first, everyone was certain that it was Naegi that she was pulling with her, but as the other figure slowly began to reveal itself, they were more than surprised at the change Naegi had undergone with Ikusaba dressing her. She looked like a completely different person to some of them!

Once fully in plain view, Naegi grew a slight blush as she bit the tip of her thumbnail. "S-So...How do I...l-look...?" She asked aloud.

There she stood in all her wonder as everyone took in the "new" Naegi. Even starting with her head, her hair looked far longer than it usually did. Granted, Naegi had a sense of combing it so it always came out a bit spikey, so it wasn't that surprising. But now that it was all laid out, dropping behind her head, it definitely helped her with her feminine appearance. Her hair was long enough to dangle down to her shoulders, with all sides of it angled so it only went down her back and sides. The only piece of her hair that did remain the same was the spikey tip that she was used to.

She even had a cute little sunflower clip on the right side of it, which was small yet decorative enough to make notice of.

As for part of her outfit, it had only stayed slightly the same, but still maintained a look of difference. Her green hoodie was now replaced with a yellow, long-sleeve shirt, which wasn't entirely obvious due to the partly zipped up black hooded-jacket she had over herself. The jacket appeared to be slightly large on her, noticing how it was slightly baggy over her, but it still fit just fine. It was just zipped up till it reached her chest. In addition, while it wasn't clearly as noticeable from far away, Naegi also had a light, pink, hue colored onto her fingernails, courtesy of Ikusaba herself. It was only a light amount, but still noticeable.

In terms of lower clothing, her pants were completely gone. It was now replaced by a colorful, bright skirt, which went down to her knees. It was rather interesting seeing Naegi in a skirt, considering it was now more appropriate for her gender. The top of it was partly covered by the bottom of the jacket, due to it's size, but only by a small amount.

And even her shoes were completely switched out. Where she once had ordinary tennis shoes, they too were now replaced by bright blue sandals. These weren't the cheap, flip-flops that barely stayed on one's feet securely, or the ones that made it near impossible to run in, but sturdy, secure ones that had a nice hard strap over the middle of it, keeping it secure for anyone to wear. While the tips of the sandals were covered slightly from the sandal as well, there was still enough space to see that her toe nails were painted as well, just like her fingernails.

Overall, as Ikusaba had said, this was a completely different Naegi, one who continued to grow more and more nervous from the staring eyes and the utter silence.

"W-Well...C-Can someone say something?" Naegi asked uncomfortably. Asahina blinked as she tried to think of a response.

"W-Wow, Naegi!" She paused for a second. "Y-You look good!" She complimented. Naegi rubbed her shoulder uneasily.

"R-Really...?" She wondered. "Y-You don't sound too certain..." She commented quietly. Owada scratched his own head.

"I don't really see the big deal to be honest." He stated. Asahina looked at him sternly.

"Owada!" She yelped. Owada quickly waved his hands back and forth.

"N-No, no, no! I don't mean like that!" He quickly sputtered. "I-I just mean...well..." He paused again, giving Naegi another look. "The outfit looks great and all...but I guess I just don't see why she wanted to have a makeover to begin with." He said. Asahina couldn't help but agree slightly, looking back to Naegi.

"U-Umm...Well it was partly Ikusaba's idea," she revealed, gesturing to the still smiling Ikusaba, "she thought if I had a slight makeover and all, that it might help improve my mood and whatnot." She said.

"Well, do you feel any better about it?" Celes asked rubbing her chin. Naegi looked down at her outfit once more for a few seconds.

"I definitely don't feel too worried about being mistaken for a boy this way, heh..." She joked slightly blushing as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm not one to remark one's appearance, but if you want absolute certainty that you won't be mistaken for a boy, perhaps you should lose the jacket." Ishimaru suggested. "Personally I think it would help bring out the yellow from your shirt, then." A few of the girls were rather surprised Ishimaru was so incisive about one's clothing. Naegi looked down to her outfit curiously.

"Really?" She shrugged her shoulders as she began unzipping. "If you say so."

The minute she had her jacket's zipper down to her belly button, two small lumps could be seen, slightly pushing up against her shirt. The sight of it strangely shocked Hagakure.

"Holy crap dude!" He shouted. "Nags really does have breasts!"

*BAM-BAM*

Naegi was sadly attempting to walk away while trying to zip up her jacket once more as far as it could go, all the while Hagakure was passed out cold on the floor with a steaming lump on the back of his head. She had anime-stylized tears flowing down her face without releasing a simple whimper or whine. While statistics could prove who struck first, it was probably best not to argue about who attacked Hagakure before hand, as both Asahina's and Oogami's fist were still steaming, though Asahina did shake her wrist slightly from how hard she struck.

"No! No! No! Naegi, wait, come back!" Ikusaba pleaded, managing to bring her back over. She tried giving her a comforting smile. "Just ignore him, he's an idiot."

"That's a factor we can all agree upon." Celes said with a nod.

Naegi looked up Ikusaba somewhat teary-eyed. "I told you this wouldn't work out!" She whined. "Even if I'm trying to be positive about things, it's still burdening everyone!"

"Burden?" Owada asked with a raised brow. Everyone watched as he stood from his chair and walked over to Naegi. She couldn't help but feel her heart shake slightly. "Chick, is this what that's about?"

Naegi frowned slightly as looked away. "W-Well...Y-Yeah, kind of." She grew a bit surprised as Owada rubbed her head, apparently with a grin on his face.

"Man, if that's what you're worried about, then wear whatever you want." He told her. Naegi blinked confused.

"Huh?"

"Look, it really don't matter ta me if you dress like a boy or a girl, trust me." He said pointing to himself. "But regardless of whichever you wear, it doesn't make you any more or less of a burden than the rest of us." Naegi really couldn't understand if he was trying to cheer her up or insult her more.

"I-I don't get it..." She mumbled. Owada rubbed his own head as he began to explain.

"Well...For starters, what do you think you've done to burden everyone?" Naegi frowned as she lowered her head. Just thinking about it slightly made her teary eyed.

"W-Well...F-For starters, I have a weak stomach to t-the executions...a-and the trauma I had up till now..." Naegi sniffled a bit. Ikusaba slightly frowned at the sight.

"Ok, so you had trauma and threw up a bunch. So what?" He asked. Naegi looked up at him through the tears curiously.

"Huh?"

"Look, I'm not good at pep talks, but I guess what I'm trying to say is..." He paused rubbing the back of his neck. "You shouldn't limit yourself to thinking you're the only burden around here."

Asahina smiled understanding what he was getting at. She turned her attention back to Naegi. "Hey, yeah! I mean to be honest, all of us have done something or another that have made things difficult, but we don't blame each other for it." Owada stepped to the side slightly as he and Naegi looked back to her.

"What do you mean?" Naegi asked her.

"Well," Asahina looked up in thought as she tapped her chin, "think of me and my Ultimate skill for swimming. I'm a good athlete when it comes to aquatic sports and stuff, but I'm kinda ditzy when it comes to anything else." She said slightly embarrassed. "Only two things on my mind are donuts and swimmin'. I mean, I'm even sure if I took some time to think just a minute at the time, I wouldn't have gone and suddenly accused you like everyone else in the first trial." She admitted.

"Huh..." Naegi thought about this for a second. "I guess that's true..."

"Yeah!" Asahina cheered. "I mean, just think about it for a bit. We've all done things." Asahina looked back to the students as she listed them off. "For starters, Sakura wasn't being cautious during the second trial."

Oogami actually smiled at this as she nodded. "If I hadn't let my emotions gotten to me, I would've taken just a moment to check the suitcases Fujisaki had with her. I would've found you there and then. And for that I apologize." She nodded again. Naegi actually began to smile slightly.

"Heh, it's ok." Naegi replied.

"I must shamefully admit I'm at fault too," Ishimaru stated as he crossed his arms with disgrace, "I let my brashness and anger get to me at times, like the bro-off Owada and I had days ago."

Owada chuckled slightly scratching his head. "Heh, I guess that would be my issue then. I don't have a good handle on my anger most of the time." He paused for a moment crossing his arms. "To be honest, I have you to thank for saving me several days ago." He reminded.

Naegi remembered full well of that day. If she hadn't dropped the dumbbell in the women's weight room and caused such a loud bang days before hand, Owada would've accidentally ended up killing Fujisaki instead. And then he would be the one who was executed several days ago.

"Then there's Celes with her calm demeanor while having a tendency to be rather... rude." Asahina continued. Celes simply nodded as she sipped her morning tea.

"I suppose I can accept that as my particular fault." Celes said. She didn't fully agree with the idea that she had any "faults", but she would at least for the sake of the conversation. Yamada suddenly stood proudly with his hands at his hips, blowing up a buff of hot air from his nostrils.

"Well, as interesting as this challenge is, I'd like you to find even the slightest fault with me!" He commanded. Kirigiri looked back at him.

"Do you mean before, or after today, when I caught you messing up and slowing down Alter Ego's work?" She replied. Yamada merely squeaked before lowering his head in shame. Kirigiri smiled slightly as she looked back to Naegi. "Then, if I had to announce mine... I suppose what I make up for in my investigating, I lack common social skills to...well, socialize." She deemed. It sounded just about right. She was nice to say the least, but she wasn't all too chatty with everyone outside the class trials, less it had something to do with the headmaster.

"Then there's Fukawa with her whole psycho-personality thing," Owada said as he finished, "then there's Hagakure being..." He paused at the sight of the still knocked-out-cold Hagakure resting on the ground. The sight of it said it all. "Well...Hagakure." With the list finished, he smiled back at Naegi, who in turn, finally had her own smile to show. "Even Ikusaba has her down points."

Ikusaba couldn't help but feel a vein panging in the back of her head, but continued to play her role just fine. At this, she tilted her head poking her chin. "Hmm? I'm sorry, what did I do?" She asked. Owada chuckled slightly.

"Well, to be honest, we just met so I can't say one that's for certain. But if I had to pick an example, it'd have to be bringing all those weapons with you to a place like this. Not the best move." He commented. Ikusaba's eyes widened a bit in realization. She had to admit, she hadn't really thought of that without paying close attention, but it did make some sense. Owada turned his attention back to Naegi. "Look, the point is, we all have our ups and downs, strengths and weaknesses or whatever. Just don't let it get to you, ok?" He explained.

Naegi couldn't help but be a little touched by the sudden "group chat" she just had. When she thought about it, they were right! All of them had their own strengths and weaknesses which benefited or burdened them all in some manner or another. It didn't really mean though that they themselves were a burden. And even if it did, no one would care because they all forgave one another.

Around here, she could feel like they were indeed all friends.

"Hmm...I guess you're right. Thanks Owada, well, and everybody." Naegi thanked with a slight bow. Owada couldn't help but blush as he rubbed the back of his head. Either way, for the first time in awhile, at least for those that were already there and conscious, everyone had a genuine smile. As long as they were together, they didn't have anything to worry about.

_***Diiing dong***_

_***Diiiiing dooong***_

That was until the sudden sound of the Monokuma announcement reminded them. As always, he suddenly appeared on the only working monitor in the room, seeing how the other was still broken from the other day.

**_"Eh hem, may I have your attention please? All students are to report to the gym immediately! No excuses, no exceptions, and no bedwetters!...Well, except one._**_"_

The only ounce of dignity Naegi had was the small prayer which was answered, seeing how Monokuma hadn't specifically targeted or said it was her. That didn't help the small blush that covered her now-lowered head, nor the ones on Asahina's or Ikusaba's face, both of whom knew her secret. As for the rest, they found the last comment particularly questionable, but didn't bother paying much attention to it. They were more annoyed by the fact there was an announcement now of all times out of any moment.

"Geh, what the fuck does he want now?!" Owada groaned. Kirigiri sighed.

"We might as well attend, less we wish to get punished." She said, already walking towards the door. "Yamada, please bring Hagakure." She requested. Yamada gave a proud salute like a soldier, though, the fact he was being forced to drag him, due to the lack of strength, was less soldier-like.

Ikusaba watched as the numerous students left and turned to Naegi. "What does he want with us?" She asked. Naegi gave her a simple smile.

"It's probably best not to ask. It's usually bad." She replied.

"Really? It can't be that bad..."

...

...

...

"Whoa, Naegi! What happened to you? Did you lose a bet?" Monokuma asked rubbing his chin. Naegi, like before, attempted to walk away from the gym room, but was stopped by Ikusaba. She gave a brief smile to Naegi before glaring at Monokuma.

"Hey, don't insult her like that! And I'll have you know I happened to be the one who made her said outfit!" She proudly stated. Monokuma lowered his head as if ashamed- as if he could ever be.

"Ok, I'm sorry, my bad." He grinned again at full attention. "You did lose a bet after all!" He teased. Ikusaba's brow twitched.

"That's it!" She yelled. Only after a mere step though, she was stopped by a panicking Naegi.

"W-Wait, don't! You'll be executed if you attack the headmaster!" Naegi cried out worriedly. Ikusaba had a brief moment of de sha vue, only this time, Naegi pulled her back herself.

"Huh? You expect that little bear thing to be able to kill me?" She wondered. Hagakure sighed while his arms were crossed, and with a still-sore lump on his head.

"I'll explain it to ya later dude..." He told her.

"Upupu, thank goodness too! She looks reeeeeeeeally frightening...though not as much as Naegi's new look." Monokuma insulted again. Naegi was really almost tempted to let her friend go, save for the fact she knew it would mean disaster for Ikusaba.

"Would ya just get on with it, ya dumb factory-recalled toy!" Owada yelled, just as irritated by the fact he continued to pick on the women of the group.

"Oh fine, if you're gonna hurt me with words, I guess I'll leave it at that." Monokuma teased once more. Everyone's attention was brought up as he began holding up envelopes in his hand. They reminded nearly everyone of the embarrassing secrets and history which lead to the second set of motives Monokuma set in. They knew whatever it was, could only be bad. "I've decided to be a bit lenient with the incentives this time around, and instead, decided we're going to play a game!" He announced.

Yamada's glasses flared up with interest. "Games, you say?" He asked. As if to answer his question, Monokuma suddenly tossed the envelopes into the air. Surprisingly like before, it was with such precision that it managed to safely land near everyone whose envelopes they belonged to. Even Ikusaba received one, for obvious reasons.

"That's right gopher boy! I call this one, Two Lies and a Truth!" Monokuma responded. "It's a simple and fun game for the whole family! In your envelopes, I placed two simple and interesting lies, and a single truth. Now let's see where it goes from here!" Monokuma announced before disappearing from the floorboards again.

Naegi could only look at the envelope with curiosity and nerves. She didn't want to have a repeat like the last letter which housed her embarrassing bedwetting secret, but she also didn't want another murder to happen either. If she read this, there was a chance she could figure out what Monokuma's planning and possibly prevent the next murder. At the same time, it could just as easily spell disaster for everyone, including herself.

She gulped slightly as she hesitantly unhooked the envelope, digging her hand inside. Surprisingly, instead of a full simple sheet of paper like before, these were shredded, rectangular, three strips of paper. She braced herself as she slowly gathered them up, prepared to see what truth and lies were written before it.

"Oh, lemme see!" Ikusaba quickly ordered, swiping the three strips of paper out of Naegi's hands before turning around. Naegi could only blink in response for a few seconds before she realized Ikusaba swiped the papers from her. She was just as swift at swiping papers from her bare hands, just as she was swift of disrobing a towel off a soaking, wet, Naegi.

"Wha- Hey!" Naegi yelped, quickly turning back to her. "Give those back, Ikusaba!" Naegi pleaded. Naegi took a few moments before she realized Ikusaba had a pained expression on her face. She was biting her lip and cupping her hand over her mouth as she stared at the strips of paper. It was an unsettling sight to say the least. Naegi almost completely ignored the mere thought of asking her for the papers, yet she knew she had to. "P-Please give those back..." Naegi asked quietly.

Ikusaba looked at her with a worried expression on her face. "A-Are you sure...Naegi?" She asked. Whatever were on the cards were definitely terrible, yet she had to face them just like everyone else who was reading theirs were. With a slight gulp, Naegi nodded as she opened her palm.

"Y-Yes, I'm sure. Please, give them back!" She asked once more. Every ounce of hesitation Ikusaba displayed only worried Naegi more and more. But all of that seemed to vanish the minute Ikusaba placed the papers right back into her hand. With a deep breath and out, Naegi steadied herself as she finally read the contents of the envelope.

_Aoi Asahina is going to kill you._

_Kyoko Kirigiri is going to kill you. _

_Mukuro Ikusaba is going to kill you._

Naegi's eyes began to shake with fear and regret at the mere sight of the words. Listed on here were three of her currently closest friends. And on all of them, it told her that they were going to kill her.

_T-There has to be some mistake..._ Naegi thought to herself. _I-It must be... I-I mean, he told us there was only t-two lies, not three!_ She shouted in her mind. There had to be a lie amongst them, there just had to be! All of them were the closest friends she had, and all of them were friends for different reasons. On top of that, she couldn't even live with the idea that Mukuro Ikusaba, a friend she had only recently made, would possibly try to kill her, not after all she's done to help her.

Reactions and thoughts like this were going among almost everybody. In one form or another, it told them that they were going to die, whether by someone else's hands or otherwise. None of them even paid attention as Ikusaba slowly slipped out the door of the Gym Room. She gritted her teeth as she stood outside the entryway, looking at the strips of paper angrily. She grumbled inaudibly as she turned her transmitter back on, which was still naturally placed on her right ear, hidden by her hair.

"Hey, pick up damn it!" Ikusaba cursed quietly. There were a few moments of static before someone responded.

"Aww, don't you like the game I picked out for you guys?" The voice asked innocently.

"Like hell!" Ikusaba yelled back.

"Whoooo, someone's not getting toys this Christmas." The voice teased in a pouting-like tone.

"Shut up! What's the deal here, huh?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with these slips of paper!" She yelled looking back at them.

If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was her lightning-fast speed. Those years of training, whether it be military, secret service, etc., truly paid off in moments like these. If she hadn't taken the strips of papers from Naegi when she did, what Naegi would've read instead would've reeeeally put her on edge.

The mere sight of one particular piece of paper is what really ticked her off. She knew she was supposed to keep a tight cover on her identity and whatnot, but apparently Monokuma wasn't trying to help her in that sort of way. Even if it was a joke or just to help her cover in some weird form, this was going over the line. She was just fortunate enough to switch her own slip of paper with a certain one Naegi had without her noticing.

"Why on earth did you give her _that_ one?!" Ikusaba grumbled.

"Hmm...That one, that one, that one...You're going to have to be a bit more specific." The voice told her. Ikusaba rolled her eyes irritated.

"Gee, I don't know! Maybe the one that reads "_Mukuro Ikusaba is a Traitor._", perhaps?" Ikusaba groaned.

"Ooooooh, that one!" The voice said excitedly, as if they hadn't a clue what Ikusaba was referring to. "Oh, don't let it bother you too much. She could've taken it as a lie, you know." The voice commented.

"The hell she would! Her only other options were "Aoi Asahina is going to kill her.", or how I was going to kill her. Either way, she had a 66% chance of suspecting me!"

"Would you just relax? I thought you wanted her to feel despair anyway? Remember, the _plan_..." The voice tried reminding.

"Huff, it's too soon still. She hasn't given in yet."

"Really?...Huh..." The voice went silent for a few brief seconds. "I really that whole "trauma" thing would've broken her."

"Look, just warn me next time before you try something like that?"

"Oh alright...but in exchange-"

Ikusaba rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know, on camera. Whatever." She promised. She quickly said her goodbye and peaked back into the Gym Room. She sighed in relief, her disappearance having not been noticed at this point, quietly sneaking in and closing the door behind her.

"Naegi, you know we would never hurt you!" Asahina tried to assure. Naegi was rubbing her sleeves nervously.

"I-I know that, but what other options are there?" Naegi asked worriedly. "Monokuma said it was two lies and a truth, so if you're not, then there's only two other options!" She panicked.

"Look, Nags, don't let it get to you." Hagakure tried helping. "I mean, what guarantee is there that any of this stuff is the truth? Maybe they're all lies!" If only to douse both, Naegi's and Hagakure's hopes, Monokuma suddenly appeared on the oversized monitor above the Gym's stage.

_**"Aaaaang! Hate to break it to you, but the truths I provided for you guys are one-hundred-percent real!"**_ He assured, right before turning himself off again. Now Hagakure was the one growing nervous as he looked back to Naegi.

"Excuse me..." A sudden voice spoke out as it passed Ikusaba. Her eyes briefly shifted to the side as she noticed Fukawa suddenly passing her, leaving the gym room in a hurry.

"Umm...W-Well Nags, m-maybe it's not something that's happening?" Hagakure was at a loss, just as nervous for himself as he was for anyone else. "M-Maybe it's something that's going to happen, not something that has-!"

"W-What?!" Naegi started panicking more as she squeezed her head.

"Hagakure!" Asahina yelled. Hagakure could only moan as he tried to think of something. It wasn't just for the sake of calming Naegi down, but himself as well. Ikusaba bit her lip slightly. She tried giving a calm smile as she raised her hand toward Naegi.

"Look, Naegi, maybe-"

"No!" Naegi quickly swatted her hand away, much to everyone's, Naegi's included, surprise. Naegi stared at her in shock before beginning to tear up. "I-I'm sorry...I-I just..." She fell to her knees as she tried thinking while tears rolled down her face.

"I don't mean to be a poor sport either, but I think Naegi has a right mind to be nervous here." Owada commented, catching the attention of the group. "I mean, I'm sure each of us got a slip that said one of us would get killed by one another, right?" The exchange of glances only confirmed this. "Then why don't we all just stay separated from one another for awhile?"

"Are you crazy?!" Yamada shouted. "That just leaves us vulnerable at any time!" He said.

"Well I'd like to hear your brilliant idea!" Owada yelled back. "I mean what are we supposed to do? Just stick with one another instead?"

Asahina remained silent as she nibbled on her fingernail. As much as it sounded at the time, the idea actually came to her. "Actually...that's a great idea!" She stated. Owada looked back to her.

"Huh?"

Naegi nearly jumped as Asahina pulled her back to her feet, giving her a warm smile.

"Let's have an all-girl's sleepover!" Asahina suggested excitedly. Naegi could only blink at the suggestion.

"A… Sleepover?" She repeated. Asahina nodded.

"Yeah, think about it! There's no way one of us would commit a murder if we were all in the same room!" She said looking back to the others. "The girls can have their own sleepover, and the guys can have theirs!" Even Ishimaru couldn't help but blush at the suggestion.

"Ehhh, Asahina? I appreciate the sentiment, but guy's don't really do that at our age..." He stated. He looked to his right as Owada through an arm around his neck.

"But hey, that doesn't mean we can't pull an all-nighter, now does it?" He asked. Yamada tilted his head.

"An all-nighter?" He repeated. Owada nodded.

"Yeah, think about it! While the girls are off doing their things, the guys can all stay up all night and party it out their way!" He explained.

"Huh... I guess that would kinda make sense, dude." Hagakure replied. "If everyone's with one another, there's no way a murderer could pull off a murder without getting caught."

Asahina couldn't help but giggle excitingly, then cheered.

"**PARTY NIGHT!**"

...

...

...

A/N: Bwahahahaha! First a new death/murder, and now a new motive! What will be the outcome of this so-called "Sleepover"? A night to remember for good, or for worse?! Find out next time, on-!...well...this of course.

Also...*sigh* in the act of wanting to be just as formal, I decided to do a shout out like I was recommended. Who is this shout out to? I think you all know it, it's someone rather famous and beloved, and you know them quite well :P! That's right! It's MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Audience: Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Audience: YOU SUUUUCK!

Shut up Mom! Huff! Fine, then, for real! A shout-out to **Klonoadreams**, for being the, and the first of, 10th reviews I've received.

Audience: HORRAYYYYYYY!

Audience: She's my hero!

OH GO TO HELL!

*sigh* anyway, as a special treat to this 10th reviewer, Klonoa, if you see this again, I am offering an episode special just for yo ^^! These bonus episodes will be Off-The-Record, so as to not interfere with the main storyline, sorta like a "Filler episode". That means there can be interactions between Fem Nags and Ikusaba, Fujisaki, and the whole 9-yards without worry of interfering with the main storyline in any way. So if you have a request or thing you'd like to see happen Klonoa, request away ^^

As for anyone else, if you're interested in getting a special episode/request, work your way to being the 10th reviewer next ^^! Again, you can review each chp a piece, or rev all at once, however you prefer ^^ But simple, 1-sentence-5-worded review like "I lik ths. Kep up." doesn't count XP.

Also, some of you may have noticed we have similar episode pieces going on back and forth. Well there's a verily good reason for that!...We're either copying each other unexpectedly, or I'm Psychic XP And my votes on the psychic-part since I've had premonitions before in other categories too X/ A life of my personal life will have to wait though. As always, leave a like if ya like, a fav, and review, and get ready to see a nice little "All-Girl's-Slumber-Party", consisting of Asahina, Naegi, Ikusaba, and one other interesting guest, next chp ^^!


	9. Sleepover, Fan-Service! Part 1

A/N: Ahhhhh, nothing like the sweet taste of getting more and more fans ^^ (except Papa Murphey's pizza, but that's a different story). And I also have to admit, I'm having a bit of fun with this stuff fanfic here ^^ If all goes well and all, I might start up my DGR2: Girl's Only Edition- and it has some yurrrrrriiiiiiii... For those who are interested XP Either way, enjoy the fanfic ^^

WARNING: The following episode has been brought to you by the makers of Fan-Service.

Fan-Service: Bringing service, to fans, everywhere!

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...

"What do you mean no?!" Asahina whined standing outside of Celes' door.

"I'm quite sorry Asahina, but I'm not quite into the whole _sleepover_ thing." Celes apologized with a slight bow. "I'm sure you understand."

"But this is to prevent another murder from occurring!" Naegi tried to help persuade. "Plus, you'll be much more safer if you're with the rest of us!"

"I truly do appreciate the sentiment, Naegi, but I'm not entirely worried at the thought to be honest. Besides, I can always lock my door you know." Celes replied.

"Well I know, but-" Naegi tried to persuade Celes once more.

"I'm sorry, but my decision is final. Besides, if the boys are together all night and the girls are, I don't think we have to worry about Fukawa, or I, possibly committing a murder."

"But we don't have that many coming to begin with! Kirigiri didn't want to come either!" Asahina complained.

Naegi frowned slightly at this. Just this morning, when things appeared to have finally settled down and peace was just returning, Monokuma just HAD to present everyone with their newest Motive-for-murder, by making it a game he called, "Two Lies and a Truth".

The rules of the "game" were pretty much right there in the title itself. He gave everyone an envelope which contained three slips of paper; each one containing a single truth, and two lies. Now normally, when it came to getting something from Monokuma, nobody really bothered caring that much, but after the incident with Fujisaki, everyone was slightly on edge.

If only to make matters worse, each of the slips of paper apparently had to do with the idea that one of their own classmates would end up killing one another. While this didn't really surprise many people at the time, the issue came with the outrageous other slips of paper they were forced to contend with.

Assuming of course that the slips pertaining to the murders were the lies, that only meant the other two slips of paper were one lie and one truth. What made it difficult to believe, however, were 1, how hard it was to believe either one was considered the truth, and 2, how ominous the other two choices were entirely.

Some students were presented with slips such as "Your entire family is dead", and "Someone among you will die tomorrow"- these didn't really make people feel anymore comfortable with the idea that one of these were the truth, nor did it fill them with any confidence that a murder wouldn't happen anytime soon. It was like the second motive all over again!

Fortunately, however, instead of succumbing to worry and panic like some of them, Asahina devised an ingenious plan to hopefully prevent the next possible killing; by having the sexes spend time with one another for the entire night! She for one, was rather exited about the idea, and Naegi gradually began to warm up at the thought as well.

The guys decided they would take the left half of the school, mainly the lunchroom. As they okayed it with a then-irritated-Monokuma, the rules only stated they were banned from entering the lunchroom after the Nightshift began, but that didn't apply to anyone who was already within the lunchroom afterwards. The only agreement they had with Monokuma afterwards, granted he was going to change the rules once everyone's "Party Night" was finished, was that he wasn't going to restock the food for the next day, meaning everyone had to make due with what they have now until the day after tomorrow.

As to how they would deal with going to the bathroom, however, Naegi really didn't want to recall...

Regardless, this way proved eventful and beneficial to both sides. Not only could the girls request that the guys bring them something to the edge of the lunchroom door in case they wanted a snack or something, but this way, nobody could sneak up on the boys if they ended up falling asleep or something, since no one could enter the lunchroom after hours to begin with.

Of course, now the only deal was trying to get people to come to the girl's slumber party, which only consisted of Asahina, Ikusaba, Oogami, and Naegi herself at the time. It was rather problematic though since now 3 girls were deciding to remain absent from said party, which also meant 3 chances of someone murdering another that weren't at the party.

"I'm sorry again, but my answer is final. If it makes you feel any better, you can take my key with you." Celes offered. "So even if I did try to kill someone, if I can't get back inside my room, I will officially seal my fate."

Naegi couldn't help but scratch her head. "Couldn't you just leave your door open then or something?" Naegi wondered. Celes blinked at the sudden remark, actually a bit surprised from it.

"Huh...I guess that does ruin the point then." She replied storing the key back in her pocket. Asahina moaned as she crossed her arms.

"But I'm positive this idea will work..." She muttered. Oogami crossed her arms as she tried to think of a solution.

Only one came to her.

"If that is the case, Asahina, then perhaps I should consider taking patrol for the night." Oogami suggested. Asahina looked back to her friend disappointed.

"B-But then you'll have to miss the sleepover!" She told her. Oogami simply smiled.

"Do not worry. One night is little compared to the life of our friends." She reminded. "Besides, we could always set one up another night afterwards."

Despite not wanting one of her closest friends to miss out on this, she had to admit Oogami had a point. As long as she was watching the hallways the entire time, especially someone as big and strong as her, then it would be nearly impossible for someone to commit a murder on her watch. With a groan, Asahina sighed as she nodded.

"Fine, but next time, you're coming to our sleepover. No exceptions!" She said. Oogami chuckled slightly as she nodded.

"It's a promise." She replied before heading back down the hallway. As long as she maintained constant control, things should go just fine. It still didn't make her feel any less guilty about having Oogami staying on guard duty while everyone was having a good time.

Perhaps she would stop by every now and then to keep her company.

"Hey girls!" Ikusaba greeted cheerfully, catching their attention. They noticed she was carrying bags full of party goods, with the goods mostly consisting of snacks and soda drinks she found. "We all ready for the sleepover?" She asked holding the bags up. Her excitement quickly changed to confusion as she noticed the slight frown on Asahina's face. "Something wrong?" She asked.

Asahina sighed before replying. "Apparently our party might be cut somewhat short." She looked up to Ikusaba. "Celes and Kirigiri aren't coming, so Oogami is going to stay on patrol."

"Really?" Ikusaba blinked. "What about Fukawa?" Naegi couldn't help but frown deeply as she turned away. Asahina tried giving her a slight sympathetic smile while patting her shoulder.

Ikusaba was definitely a grand actor. She knew perfectly well about what Fukawa did, or Genocider Shou to be more specific, to Fujisaki. Even if it was for his execution, being up close and in person right next to Fujisaki, Naegi hasn't been able to so much as utter a word to Fukawa. She didn't entirely blame her for it either, but she's been so scared of even trying to start a conversation with her, it's a miracle she didn't get more trauma from it!

It's not like Fukawa was really trying to help her either for that matter. Ever since what happened to Togami, she's been quiet towards anything, save for comments about her White Knight. She's been cooped up in her room the entire time as well, only showing up whenever she was in "Genocider Mode", which often left Oogami with following her around to make sure she didn't harm anyone, and whenever Monokuma had an announcement to make in the gym.

Other than that and for food or other things, she's spent nearly every waking moment inside her room. At least there was little worry of her hurting someone while she was her normal self.

"We umm...We can't invite Fukawa." Asahina replied looking back to Ikusaba. "It's a long story." Ikusaba looked back to Naegi, noticing her seeming somewhat tense. With a small smile, she set the bags down as she gently held Naegi's hands.

"H-Hey, don't worry about it." Ikusaba tried to cheer Naegi up. "We can still have a great time with just the three of us!" She told them. Asahina smiled at Naegi as well.

"Yeah, we'll have a great time! We can do the classics like ghost stories, stay up late, the works!" Asahina added.

Naegi gave a small smile, even if it wasn't entirely cheering her up, she appreciated Asahina's and Ikusaba's kindness.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Naegi finally said. "I still kind of wish Celes or Kirigiri would've came with us, though." She admitted. Ikusaba stared at her questionably.

"Why Kirigiri? I mean, didn't you say she pulled some trick on you during the act?" She asked. Ikusaba nearly regretted the question as she saw Naegi frown again as a result.

"W-Well...yeah...But it's not her fault or anything! She just...wanted to make sure we'd survive the class trial." Naegi explained.

Ikusaba grumbled inside her head. She couldn't believe that even after all she did to Naegi, Naegi still trusted Kirigiri and treated her like a good friend. Sure, she did always try to help comfort her, so she gave her credit for that, but otherwise, she only found Kirigiri as both an obstacle, and a nuisance.

"Well why don't we give her some time to change her mind, huh" Ikusaba recommended. "I'm sure she'll warm up to the idea later on."

"Yeah! And either way we'll have a great time!" Asahina cheered a bit.

"Oh!" Ikusaba gasped suddenly. "I forgot some of the snacks! I'll be right back!" She said as she took off.

Naegi and Asahina watched as she left, then shrugged to one another. They don't know what sort of snack was so important that she just HAD to get it, but they didn't care too much. They were just excited about the Sleepover tonight in Naegi's room. Which is probably why they didn't bother checking on her, because if they had, they would've known she just stopped once she turned the corner and was clear from anyone's view.

With a cheeky grin, she turned her transmitter on once more, continually checking both sides of the hallway to make sure no one was coming.

*Bzzzt*

"Hey, you there?" Ikusaba asked quietly.

"Yes indeed!" The voice responded. "Let me guess- you want something done about Kirigiri?"

"Actually, I want you to get her to join us tonight, if possible." Ikusaba requested. She assumed the receiver of her transmission was drinking something because she could've sworn she heard them do a spit-take.

"PFFFFFFFFFT!" It sputtered. "You WANT her to join you?!" It shouted back. Ikusaba nearly jumped from how loud it was, but ignored it.

"Yes Ms. Shouts-A-Lot!" She yelled back as quietly as possible. "And no, this doesn't go towards my favor you owe me." She added.

"I wouldn't consider such a request a favor either way! But why do you want-...Oooooh, I get it. You wanna see Naegi all happy-hap, don't ya?" The voice grinned on it's side of the transmission.

"Well of course I want to see her happy. Buuut, you should consider it an opportunity as well." Ikusaba said, much to the voice's growing excitement.

"Oh? I looooove opportunities."

"I know you do. And I know how to get the next murder rolling." Ikusaba grinned sinisterly. "You just need to make sure Kirigiri comes tonight, and I'll explain the rest."

"Fair-thee-well!" The voice agreed with a governing-accent. "Leave thy royal request to thy Ruler!"

"Great! So how will you convince her?"

"Leave that to me! I shant disappoint thee!" It promised. "Now, about your plan in this bargain..."

...

...

...

"**Cheers!**"

*CLANK*

The four boys cheered with excitement as they clanged their mugs full of soda before chugging it down. It would've been a bit more exciting to them, Hagakure, Owada, Ishimaru, and Yamada, if they had actual wine or alcohol to cheer to, but being a school, sadly that was out of their jurisdiction. Even if they did, neither Ishimaru or Monokuma would allow such a fiasco.

This is what the boys had planned for their party night- a night where no one ever went to sleep and just partied all night long. They didn't really have a choice on that matter either way. If any of them fell asleep, they would more-or-less likely be executed for breaking the rules.

Even if they weren't, they all agreed to one another that they would stay up as long as possible. They brought sporting stuff from the gyms to play with, and had plenty of full access to the school's food and drinks for the entire night. It was truly a guy's night out, just within the lunchroom.

"Man, this is the life!" Owada said excited. "Just a couple guys, plenty of drinks and food, and a full night of partying." He took a drink from his mug.

"Yeah, man, this hits the spot." Hagakure drank from his mug in agreement. "I can't remember the last time I celebrated like this. You know, not counting the homicidal school and all."

"Quite!" Ishimaru nodded firmly. "I can perfectly picture each celebration I had after each hearted debate back in Junior High. They were quite exciting!"

"Even I remember the days I celebrated with my friends back in school." Yamada said proudly. "No matter the reason, each time we gathered, we would simply celebrate with joy!"

Owada couldn't help but smirk. "Oh yeah? You and your D 'n D buddies must _really_ raise the roof..." He joked, earning laughs from both Ishimaru and Hagakure. Yamada growled back.

"Hey!" He shouted. "Do not compare us to those nerds. We're far above those simpletons!"

"Yeah, right up there with Geek Squad I bet." Hagakure replied, earning laughs from Owada and Ishimaru this time. All Yamada could do was grumble as the three of them laughed and cheered. The laughter started dying down though once Owada noticed Ishimaru's silence.

"Hey, bro, something on your mind?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh, sorry! I don't mean to kill the mood of this festivity, it's just..." Ishimaru paused again.

"What's up Ish?" Hagakure wanted to know as well.

"It's just," Ishimaru sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and staring at the ceiling, "I can't help but wonder what our family is doing right now."

There was a surprising silence from the rest of the group as they joined in, staring at the ceiling in thought. Surely, it must've been well over two weeks by this point, yet there hadn't been a single phone call or letter from them. Sure, they doubted Monokuma would even let them call them back or reply to a letter if they did send one, but it was still a mystery to everyone.

"What do you suppose they're doing?" Yamada asked. He took off his glasses briefly to wipe down a smudge on it.

"Beats me. Do you guys even think they're ok?" Owada wondered. "I mean, you guys still remember the dvds Monokuma showed us for our first incentive, right?"

There was more silence than before now. Each of them remembered exactly what those dvds had on them, almost as if it was playing right before them. Their families, friends, groups they were part of, all of them were in some strange form of peril or tragedy, at least from what they saw. Whatever they meant, it was definitely another reason for them to all get out.

"What do you suppose happened to 'em dudes?" Hagakure asked with another chug.

"Perhaps an earthquake struck without our knowing?" Yamada suggested.

"Then why didn't we feel such a quake?" Ishimaru asked him.

"Maybe the schools built to be immune to earthquakes or something?" Hagakure told his opinion while looking at his mug. "I mean, with everything else I've seen lately, nothing really surprises me anymore."

"That would explain why no one's checked up on this place." Owada commented. "If they were able to communicate with us, they would've done so by now. Or at the least, send someone here."

"Maybe they did?" Ishimaru replied. All eyes turned to him. "Haven't you stopped to think maybe that's why Ikusaba's here?"

"Huh, good point." Owada complimented rubbing his chin. "Maybe she's working here undercover or something to help break us out?"

"Hmm, that would be the best scenario." Yamada agreed. "After all, Master Mukuro Ikusaba has the training for military operations like this. Perhaps people sent her for such an occasion?"

"But why hasn't she told us about this yet then?" Hagakure asked. "I mean, I don't want to look like a pessimist, but shouldn't she have done so already or at least told us?"

"What are you, blind and stupid?" Owada yelled. "If she did it right in front of us, Monokuma would probably kill her on spot or something!" Hagakure couldn't help but feel the sweat drip from his head at this.

"Oh yeah...good point."

"But she could just tell us in the-" Ishimaru began. He paused noticing the camera fixated on him from the right corner of the lunchroom. He sighed mentally relieved that he caught it just in time. "In the...you know..." He gestured nodding his head forward, giving the signal to the others about the camera in the lunchroom. All of them gave a slight nod in understanding.

"You ever stop to think though if she's actually the headmaster?" Yamada brought up. "Even I find the chances she's been here the entire time a little debatable."

"In that case, let's debate!" Ishimaru said eagerly. Owada sighed as he patted him on the back.

"Cool your jets, bro, it's a figure of speech." Ishimaru was verily disappointed.

"Meh, I kinda doubt she is man. She can't be here and controlling Monokuma at the same time, right?" Hagakure believed.

"What if it's a robot or something? She doesn't need to control it directly then, just order it with specific orders beforehand." Yamada implied.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are we doing?" Owada yelled. "We're supposed to have a Guy's Night here, am I right?" He raised his mug with pride. "I say we cut the mysteries crap for now and just focus on hangin."

The other three nodded in agreement. While they could discuss numerous scenarios and possibilities about all that's been going on since they came to this school, after recent events, they all agreed they would only get days like this once in a life time, especially if another class trial occurred after a murder.

"Yeah, man." Hagakure yelled with just as much pride. "Hey, here's to the classmates that aren't with us anymore." He announced, standing respectfully.

"To fallen comrades!" Ishimaru stood with his mug in honor.

"To Fujisaki!" Owada declared honorably.

"To our friends!" Yamada cheered.

And with a clang, they all said their piece.

"**Cheers!**"

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...

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

"I'll get it!" Naegi claimed, running over to the door. Opening it, she smiled at the sight of Asahina with her blanket and pillow already. She already brought a bag filled with other stuff, but she couldn't tell what since it was closed. "Hey Asahina, come right on in!" Naegi said cheerfully.

"Hmhmhm." Asahina chuckled as she walked in.

She saw that Naegi was already dressed for the sleepover. Apparently, Ikusaba took the time to find some more "appropriate" clothes for Naegi, though she used that term lightly when it came to it. The clothes Naegi now had mainly consisted of a large pink nighty which went down to her knees, and with sleeves running up to her arms.

While such a sight wouldn't normally surprise Naegi, one detail that did seem a little awkward was how the nighty was... slightly transparent. She could partly see Naegi through it, but what really stood out were her undergarments she had on. At the least, it was definitely sleeping oriented. And she couldn't really say it was a complaint either.

As opposed to Asahina's "sleepwear", it only consisted of her, underwear and her usual white shirt. It's the same thing she's worn every night around here, so wearing it to a sleepover like this didn't really feel like much of a bother to her, nor did she have to worry about certain boys and their peering eyes while Oogami was on guard.

Looking around the room, she could even tell there was a bit of redecorating done, though not much. Naegi's bed was pushed a little closer to the wall to make room for the tables in the middle, which Ikusaba was currently setting with party snacks and drinks. Like Asahina, she was only wearing her underwear and shirt too, though, hers only went down till it reached just above her bellybutton.

Ikusaba smiled looking back at the door.

"Hey Asahina! Glad you to make it to the party." Ikusaba smiled.

"Thanks Ikusaba!" Asahina replied. "I'm just glad I wasn't late to the party." She joked.

"It wouldn't be a party without ya." Naegi replied walking back. "I mean Ikusaba's my roommate anyway, so it wouldn't have been much different with just the two of us."

"I also managed to find some cards, so we can play games to help pass the time." Ikusaba announced.

"Cool!" Asahina oohed in excitement. "What do you girls wanna play?"

"Why not Go Fish?" Naegi suggested.

"Or Crazy Eights!" Asahina added.

"Or Strip Poker!" Ikusaba blurted out.

There was a long, grueling silence as Naegi and Asahina stared at her in mixed shock and surprise. As well as a slight blush. It was nowhere near as red though in comparisons to Ikusaba's, who was currently smacking herself inside her head for suddenly blurting that out like an idiot. She quickly waved her hands, slightly in panic, as she came up with an excuse.

"I-I-I don't mean like that, j-just the fun version, not the other one!" She quickly stated.

Naegi and Asahina looked at each other confused. "There's different versions?" Naegi asked. Asahina could only shrug.

"Y-Yeah, yeah! W-We just put all our D-day clothes on over our pajama clothes t-then play down to those! M-My old army buddies and I did it all the time!" She lied.

"..."

"..."

"..."

With each second of silence, Ikusaba's sweat was dripping more and more quickly. Soon enough, she going to have a waterfall if no one said anything.

"...I guess that sounds ok." Naegi said scratching her head.

"Well, it's just down to our night stuff we're wearing, and we're all girls anyway." Asahina replied with a shrug. Ikusaba had to turn around to physically let out a sigh of great relief. She would've possibly passed out from holding in her breath any longer.

Naegi looked back to Ikusaba curiously. "So how do we play?"

...

...

...

"Awwww c'mon, you know you want tooooooooooo..." Monokuma said over the monitor, somewhat taunting Kirigiri who was reading on her bed.

"Again, no." Kirigiri said for the 17th time, with a quite calming composure at that.

"Pleeeeeease?" Monokuma practically begged. "It'll be a lot of fuuun..."

"Sleepovers aren't really my thing." She firmly replied.

"Awwww, leave it to Kirigiri to be the party-pooper." Monokuma taunted again. Kirigiri just smirked.

"I can't really ruin a party if I don't attend one, now can I?" She asked. Monokuma rubbed his chin at the question.

"Well...Ok, fine! You got me there." He groaned.

"Why do you want me to attend a sleepover so badly anyway?" Kirigiri asked. "Even that, I can't understand."

Monokuma just drank his martini while swiveling in his chair. "Ooohhh, who knoooows..." He paused taking a sip. "Maybe it's just because I want to see all you girls having a grand, wonderful, time?" He lied. If Kirigiri liked anything about Monokuma, she would almost be tempted to chuckle at that.

"Why do I find that hard to believe?" Kirigiri rolled her eyes.

"Whaaat? Don't you trust in your friends anyway? It's not like someone would go and commit murde-!" Monokuma stopped suddenly looking as if he was surprised. "Oh, wait...I'm sorry, I completely forgot about the last two. My bad."

If it wasn't for the fact Kirigiri had a good grip on her emotions and Monokuma's rule about destroying monitors, she swore she was just about to chuck a book right at the screen. Of course, the chances of it breaking from a simple book were extremely low, yet she couldn't afford to completely take that chance.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to read."

Monokuma stared at Kirigiri silently. Out of all the students, he knew that Kirigiri was the most level-headed and contemplative teens out of the group. Already, she was suspicious of Ikusaba, even if Monokuma didn't know to what degree, and she could pick out even the smallest of details from a crime scene or a person's behavior. It was a rather dangerous aspect that could be a damper on all of Monokuma's current and future plans.

Fortunately, he knew of her one weakness.

"You know what? You're right, you're right as always." Monokuma admitted. Kirigiri glanced back at him. If he was complimenting her, or anyone, it was always bad.

"I never thought I'd see the day you'd say that..." Kirigiri commented.

"Well, you should know when one's defeated, just like me." He dramatically cried, twiddling his paws around his martini glass. "Oh, woe is me and my future endeavors." Kirigiri rolled her eyes irritably as she sat up from her bed.

"What are you getting at?" She asked getting straight to the point. Monokuma swiveled his chair until the back was facing her.

"Oh, no, don't worry about anything I say, I'm just admitting defeat." Kirigiri watched as she swayed his arms from behind the chair. "Oh, cry, oh weep. I guess Kirigiri's just not going to a sleepover after all."

"Yeah...that's right..." Kirigiri didn't like where this was heading.

"I guess nothing bad will happen." He turned back to face her again. "Oh, and don't worry about Naegi," Kirigiri couldn't help but feel her fingers clench slightly, "I'm sure she'll be just fine. After all, she has that energetic friend of hers keeping an eye on her." He started rubbing his chin. "And of course, I'm sure she's in perfectly capable hands, what with that Mukuro Ikusaba girl watching her too..." He sighed as he walked off screen.

Kirigiri couldn't help but notice her heart skip a beat. Out of all the things he could've mentioned, she can't believe he actually mentioned one thing she really didn't want to start hearing. The fact he was trying to use Mukuro Ikusaba as a threat just proved to her suspicion about Mukuro Ikusaba being a threat.

And now he was using that very threat against her.

"W-Wait!" She practically ordered him. There was a twitch of anger in her brow as he jokingly poked his head out from the side of the screen. If his mouth moved at all, she was sure he'd be grinning cynically. "What about Ikusaba?"

Monokuma jumped back into his chair, swirling about for a few seconds until it came to a stop facing her again. "Oh, I don't know. Gee, what about that Ikusaba?" He asked rubbing his chin again. Kirigiri unconsciously squeezed her fist tensing up. "You know, maybe I should just forget what I just said. I'm sure she'll make greaaaaaat friends with Naegi." He teased.

Kirigiri officially knew what he was doing.

"You wouldn't..." She groaned.

"I wouldn't what?" Monokuma asked innocently, swaying his arms from side to side. "Oh, you mean with Ikusaba? Nooo, nooo, I wouldn't do ANYTHING with her. Why, she's just that simple, minded, student, who just mysteriously appeared out of the blue one day, and has been hanging around her constantly ever since."

_You asshole!_ Kirigiri cursed inside her head.

"You know what? Just forget I ever said anything. Even if she was up to something, I'm certain a fragile-minded Naegi and her good friend Asahina can take care of themselves." Monokuma grabbed a remote from off screen. "Well, I hope you have a good night Kirigiri. Oh, and don't worry about Naegi!" He saluted her with competence. "I'll be sure to keep a veeeeery close eye on her. Good night!"

And with the click of the remote, the monitor in Kirigiri's room turned off.

The only thing looking back at Kirigiri in the monitor was her own reflection. She couldn't believe what she just heard. There was absolutely no way Monokuma would've made such a threat without being one-hundred percent honest about Ikusaba being related in all of this. It made her heart throb at the very idea of it.

Now, not only did he confirm her suspicion, he had the gal to go and mention Ikusaba period! He knew about her suspicion, and had no reason to fear the idea of confirming it with her. The only aspect she didn't think was even possible from someone like him, was using that knowledge as a threat towards her and Naegi.

What truly made matters worse was the target of her threat to be honest. She didn't have a choice in this matter, but if she did go for Naegi's sake, it would confirm a weakness that she had. As much as she wanted to believe otherwise, she also didn't think he would just let it go and not use the same threat against her in the future to get what he wanted.

She couldn't help feeling the anger building up inside her, her fist shaking as she squeezed it tightly. She just had to let her anger out.

"**THAT MOTHERF**-!"

...

...

...

"Fold!" Naegi replied.

"Three of a pair!" Asahina yelled excitedly, only to have her hopes about to be dashed away.

"Full house." Ikusaba grinned.

"Damn it!" Asahina cursed, throwing off her jacket. "I'm out." She announced.

Naegi gulped as Ikusaba looked to her with a grin.

The entire time they played, Ikusaba was like the master of this game. All of them started with their day clothes over their night ones, as well as having a jacket and a sweater over each of their day clothes (some of which Naegi and Ikusaba provided for Asahina). From there, they played for the last hour, and, much to Asahina's and Naegi's surprise, it was a lot of fun!

It all started simply with them tossing off a shoe or two, or taking off a jacket and so on. But after a while, it started getting really tense for the two players who weren't used to it. It started coming down to either their skirts or their pants, socks, and any other assortment of goods they had. Naegi was stripped back down to her nightie two rounds prior to the current, but was told she could keep playing simply by folding if she chose. So, not wanting to lose, she did what she could to stay in the game.

The only issue was trying to get Ikusaba clothes stripped. For the entire time they played, she only came down to taking off a jacket, sweater, both her shoes, and one sock. She clearly had the advantage of knowing how to play as well as experience. It definitely would've been interesting seeing her up against Celes, provided Celes was even willing to play such a game.

But now it only came down to a somewhat trembling Naegi and a vicious Ikusaba who looked at her with a creepy eagerness. Asahina could've stayed in the game if she wanted to bid her shirt as a last token, but she wasn't going to go that far.

Only question was, would Naegi?

"Well, well, well," Ikusaba chanted with glee, "if it isn't just me and li-ttle Nae-gi..." She tapped the sides of her cards on the table while saying this. "You know if you're scared, you could only always baaack oooout..." She taunted.

Naegi hated herself for being competitive. If there was one thing she couldn't bring herself to do, it was to quit while in the middle of a game.

"Yeah, go ahead." She let out a fake yawn. "Quit like those little barnyard animals that go "Bwak-Bwak"..." She taunted. Asahina looked to Naegi worriedly.

"Don't listen to her Naegi! It's a trick!" She begged.

"Mmmhhh..." Naegi moaned.

She could never let someone call her a chicken and get away with it without at least trying, but at the same time she was running out of clothes. _Do I give up and wimp out now, or risk my dignity?_ Naegi thought to herself. Looking back and forth between her current hand and Ikusaba, she groaned.

"The hell with it. I'm in!" She decided.

"Nooooooo!" Asahina cried, banging her head against the table without lifting it after. "I can't look!" She curled her arms over her head as if hanging on to something.

"Oh, how brave." Ikusaba said with excitement while dealing the cards. "It'll make winning more exciting."

Naegi gulped once again. "What have I done?" She asked herself. She nervously stretched her hand out, looking at the cards which were dealt to her. She felt a miracle had been bestowed upon her, reminding her of her title as "Good Luck" that she held, with the cards she saw. "Yes!" She cheered, slamming her cards on the table.

"Read 'em and weep! Straight Flush!" She announced with cheer. It contained a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and an Ace of Hearts. Asahina gasped in both amazement and surprise.

"Huh! Way to go Naegi!" She congratulated happily. Naegi poked her chin, looking at Ikusaba's remaining articles of clothing.

"It'll probably be the only hand I win, so I better make the choice count." She commented, scanning Ikusaba to determine which article of clothing she'd lose would most embarrass her. However, while scanning her shirt again, she noticed how Ikusaba's expression ceased to change.

"Oh darn, this is soooo depressing." Ikusaba said with a sigh. Asahina grinned at her.

"Well too bad! You faced the judge, and now you gotta face the music!" Asahina yelled excitedly. Her excitement came to a halt, just as well as Naegi's, as Ikusaba started shaking her head.

"No, not that. I mean it'll be depressing seeing that cute face Naegi's making disappear..." She commented, gingerly flipping the cards on the table one by one.

Naegi finally realized that little miracle she felt earlier was nothing more than an illusion.

"Royal," Ikusaba emphasized, "Flush." The cards read out; 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all of Spades! Naegi could only tremble in fear while Ikusaba grinned twirling her hair with her right finger.

"N-No way...T-T-That's not possible..." She muttered in disbelief. She didn't even want to see the grin of delight on Ikusaba's face.

"And, as Punishment for challenging the Queen, you must keep the nightie off for a grand Five Full Minutes!" Ikusaba declared. Naegi could only lower her head in defeat. She knew she never should've challenged her, and now she was facing the consequences for doing so.

"I can't look!" Asahina cried out, covering her hands over her eyes.

Naegi gulped once more, looking down at the bottom of her nightie, which just managed to cover her panties, with despair. She couldn't refuse since she had lost. She had to face the music and be done with it. She didn't even want to know about the grin of evil Ikusaba had growing. With a deep breath, Naegi tightly closed her eyes, reaching down to the bottom of her nightie, and began to pull-

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

Naegi's miracle may have saved her after all.

"SOMEONESATTHEDOOR!" She quickly blurted out, rushing over to the door as fast as possible.

Asahina sighed in relief, grateful that Naegi managed to maintain her pride and keep her dignity. As Ikusaba, her joy slowly changed into a face full of rage, gritting her teeth with enough crushing power to chew through iron itself, cursing life and existence all at once.

"_**OF ALL THE FUCKING TIMING!**_" Ikusaba yelled inside her mind, screaming in agony and anger.

At the same time, Naegi quickly straightened out her nightie, sighing once more to calm down. One way or another, her hero had just came when she needed one most. With a calm smile, she happily opened the door, only to have her eyes widen at the unexpected sight of Kirigiri.

"Kirigiri?" She asked curiously.

She still had her hand up in the air, looking as if she was about to knock on the door once more before Naegi answered it. As for Kirigiri herself, she couldn't help but blush slightly at the outfit Naegi was currently wearing.

"O-Oh! H-Hello N-N-Naegi." She stuttered. She cleared her throat in order to speak clearly. "I was just...you know...wondering if, maybe..." For some reason, she couldn't think of how to put her words into a sentence. She just brushed her hair to the side looking away, somewhat guiltily for denying the offer earlier. Fortunately, Naegi could already tell what she was getting at.

"Do you...want to join the sleepover?" Naegi asked, somewhat excited at the thought of having another person over for the sleepover. Kirigiri blushed slightly, clearing her throat once more as she faced Naegi.

"Hmm...I...would understand if you said otherwise, of course. A-After all, I did decline earlier, so-

"Are you kidding?! We'd love to have you join!" Naegi said happily. Kirigiri nearly flinched at the statement, but smiled.

"R-Really?" She asked for confirmation.

"Yeah!" Naegi nodded looking back. "You just saved me too! Ikusaba was about to strip me." She commented.

If Naegi, or anyone, had seen the deep red blush that hard formed over Kirigiri's face, you would have thought she was a completely different person disguised as Kirigiri.

In fact, if her face had gotten any redder, you'd think she would've had a nosebleed.

"W-Wa-Wait w-what-?!" Kirigiri nearly choked. She didn't even realize Naegi grabbed her hand until she was getting pulled in with the door slamming right behind her.

Being dragged in, Naegi showed Kirigiri off to both Asahina and Ikusaba. Looking around, Kirigiri took in what the scenery told her. From the looks of it, it did appear to be a general party, even with just a few less people.

Asahina was just as surprised as Naegi was that she appeared. Looking to Ikusaba, Kirigiri was utterly surprised. Up to this point, Kirigiri knew for certain that Ikusaba was a traitor, even if she did everything to keep from looking suspicious. She couldn't even tell if Ikusaba knew that Kirigiri was on to her at this point. Yet strangely enough, for reasons she couldn't understand, Ikusaba literally had flames of hatred burning in her eyes, glaring daggers right into Kirigiri's heart, as possibly slitting her throat.

It almost scared her.

"-here Kirigiri?" Naegi asked. Kirigiri shook her head as she realized Naegi was suddenly talking to her.

"W- I'm sorry, what?" Kirigiri asked, just coming to her senses.

"I said, what made you decide to come here?" Naegi repeated.

"O-Oh, that." Kirigiri responded. Obviously, she couldn't just say something like _"Oh Monokuma just confirmed that Ikusaba was a traitor to me, so I'm just here because he threatened to use her if I didn't so up"_ and such. "W-ell, I uh..." She quickly tried to think of a lie.

"Yeah! WHY are you here, Kirigiri?" Ikusaba asked angrily and irritated. To Kirigiri, she thought she was on to her knowing about Ikusaba's true nature. To Naegi and Asahina, they both had a fair idea of why she was angry, so it didn't even bother them.

"W-Well if you must know, I umm...I-I just decided, you know, m-maybe it would be fun t-to try...or something..." She lied. If it wasn't for the fact that she managed to put on an act with considerable skill, Naegi and Asahina would've easily been able to notice her lie.

Still, the two were just glad to finally have another addition to their Slumber Party, and it meant there was one less person to worry about for Monokuma's current motive.

"Well either way, we're all just glad to have you here!" Naegi admitted happily. Kirigiri was a little touched, causing her to smile.

"Yeah! Overjoyed!" Ikusaba shouted.

*WHAM!*

Naegi and Asahina jumped as Ikusaba suddenly slammed her fist on top of the table, shaking the party snack bowls and cards. It even made a bowl fall to the floor.

She was pissed.

"Why not stay and join us for a game!?" She angrily suggested. Asahina and Naegi looked at Kirigiri expectantly.

"Yeah, kick her butt, Kirigiri!" Asahina said excitedly.

"Yeah, strip her good!" Naegi added. Kirigiri's face was flushed at the sudden remark.

"W-Wait a minute!" Kirigiri nearly begged as Naegi pulled her over to the table. "W-What have you girls been doing this whole time?!"

...

...

...

"Ahahaha! That's just old style, dude!" Hagakure slammed his hand on the table, laughing with the rest of the gang.

"I'm telling you guys, it's perfect! If you just hanged somebody, there's no way to tell if it was murder or suicide!" Owada said proudly.

For the last hour and a half, the guys have been doing what they can to keep the chatter up. First it started with talking about the mysteries of this school, then it went on to everyone's past life leading up to this point. Then, after multiple changes of topics, it somehow ended up with a conversation with the guys telling one another how they would pull off a perfect murder.

It wasn't all serious talk or anything, just for chucks and laughs. Everyone was having too good of a time to be taking it all seriously. Kind of like when a bunch of drunks get together and start talking about how they would want to "go out", aka die in style. Nothing more than games and laughs for them.

It was still slightly creepy though...

"Please, that's nothing dude." Hagakure replied. "If I was a killer, I'd poison not just a few, but everyone's meal during dinner or something!"

"But you can only murder two people at a time, so how would you get away with it?" Ishimaru wondered.

"Besides Master Yasuhiro Hagakure, you'd be poisoning yourself too!" Yamada added. Hagakure raised a finger expectantly.

"Ah, but that's the trick of it! I would offer all except two of us drinks with the antidote in it, and that way we'd still make it. It's perfect!" He stated. Owada crossed his arms amused.

"I have to admit man, that's rather impressive coming from you." He admitted.

"Hey, I have my moments." Hagakure (sadly) said proudly.

"Well that's nothing!" Yamada retorted. "Why if I was in charge, I'd find some way to trap someone underwater and have them drown that way. Then, once they've drowned, I'd remove whatever trap was placed and leave the crime scene as it is, all to make it look like a simple accident!" Hagakure rubbed his chin surprised.

"Hey, yeah... Even if a Monokuma report was made, it would just say they drowned and nothing more!" Hagakure clapped excitedly. "Bravo Yams, bravo." Yamada grinned and began to bow gracefully, however someone of his size could.

"So what would you do bro?" Owada asked Ishimaru with interest. His excitement changed to confusion as he noticed Ishimaru staring off at the doorway without losing a single ounce of focus. "Bro?"

"Hm?" Ishimaru looked back to Owada briefly then the door. "Sorry, I was just...wondering what the girls are up to."

Everyone's attention immediately turned towards the doorway as well. Not only did they all know, or at least assume, most of the girls were in one room entirely, but they were all eager to know the "mysteries and wonders" that took place within a girl's Slumber Party. It was considered a forbidden zone to all men, just like the women's bath.

And just like the women's bath, they just had to know what secrets lied beyond it.

Hagakure took the initiative and rubbed his finger under his nose with a cheeky grin.

"You guys, eh...wanna take a peak?" He asked. The three turned to him simultaneously.

"Are you nuts? We can't just pop our heads in there!" Owada shouted.

"Yeah, but no harm in listening, riiiight?" Hagakure suggested. All three heads looked at one another in surprise, which quickly changed to excitement.

...

...

...

"Umm...Y-You girls know you can stop now, right?" Naegi reminded, sitting on the bed with Asahina as the two watched.

What started out as a simple game between the girls turned into a full fledged war against one another. While not having the keen knowledge of "Strip Poker", Kirigiri wasn't a stranger to Poker itself. Each time the cards were dealt, the strip was switched back to one another.

First it started with Kirigiri's shoe, then Ikusaba's shoe. Then Kirigiri had to remove a sweater, then repeated by Ikusaba. Naegi and Asahina watched as the order switched back and forth. And each time they did, the person they turned to had one less article of clothing. It was fun looking at first, but as time went on, Kirigiri and Ikusaba started shouting at one another.

Naegi's and Asahina's excited, fun, smiles slowly turned to that of fear and worry as the game progressed. With each hand that was dealt, Kirigiri and Ikusaba slammed their hands, the cards specifically, with more and more ferocity. Neither Naegi nor Asahina were sure they even knew this was a game anymore. Both of them were finally down to only their bras and underwear, and they still looked ready to go even if they were bar nude.

And with each bolt of anger, a louder shout or scream would follow. One which the boys could now hear as they closed in on the door with their ears pressed against it.

"What do you think is going on in there?" Hagakure whispered.

"Shhh! Shut up! Let's just listen!" Owada had to grit his teeth to keep from shouting, interested in hearing what was going on between the doorway to wonders.

It was nothing that they had expected, only prayed.

"U-Umm, m-maybe we should stop now..." Naegi suggested.

"Naegi, just lie back and let me do all the work! I'm trying to focus!" She shouted.

All four simultaneous jaws dropped on the other side of the door. Each of them looked to one another in surprise, each returning the confirmation of what they heard.

"A-Are they really-?!" Yamada gasped.

"No way..." Owada mumbled.

"C'mon you stupid bitch! Hit me!" Kirigiri shouted. Even when it came to dealing, Ikusaba slammed a card to her, which the boys mistook as something else.

"Geez, Ikusaba's really getting in there..." Asahina commented.

Yamada already had tears of joy sliding down his face.

"I-I'm in heaven..." He muttered, slowly reaching for the door handle. "J-Just a peak, pleeease-

"NO!" Owada, Ishimaru, and Hagakure yelped quietly, quickly pulling Yamada's hand and covering his mouth.

"M-Maybe we should do something else-" Asahina tried to say.

"Don't bother trying, Asahina! I don't need to rest! In fact, I'm barely working up a sweat!" Kirigiri yelled smugly.

"Y-Yeah?! Well I'm going for a new record!" Ikusaba shouted back.

"It's like all my birthday's combined..." Hagakure wept.

"Men, I just want you to know, it's been an honor serving with you!" Ishimaru cried. Owada grasped his hand in agreement.

"Right back at you bro!"

"Geez, Kirigiri, don't you think you're going a bit too far into this?" Naegi asked raising her brow.

Yamada was forced to bite his fist to keep from yelling. "Eghghghghhhh..." He muttered.

Ikusaba glared back at Kirigiri. "You ruined my chances with Naegi, so there's no way in hell we're finishing this early!" She shouted. She wanted to play confident, but Kirigiri already had her at a cross. Monokuma couldn't even see her cards this time since it was so close to her chest, making the match even here.

"I can't see a thing! You're on your own!" The voice over the transmitter told Ikusaba.

"Tch, how about you just get down on your knees and beg for mercy." Kirigiri yelled back. The aura radiating off these two from their match was enough to practically rival Oogami's herself.

Owada looked back to Hagakure with surprise. "Dude, I didn't think she was kinky like that!" He whispered.

"All the girls here are surprising me these days, man!" Hagakure replied.

With a sigh, Naegi looked up to Asahina. "Do you maybe wanna go for a walk or something? I'm not sure I want to find out how far this is going to go..." She told her.

"Yeah...Maybe a bit of walking will help tire us out for bed." Asahina said with a stretch. "You go on ahead, I'm gonna find a snack to bring along." She replied.

She stood and walked over to the assortment of snack bags on the floor, trying to decide which would be best during a nightly walk. As for Naegi, she gladly walked over towards the door, happy to be moving away from somewhere with so much tension going on. During this time, the boys continued leaning closer and harder against the door, noticing a sudden absence of sound.

"Dude, I can't hear anything..." Hagakure muttered.

"Quiet man, they might hear you." Owada whispered back.

"Perhaps they had gone to bed? It is getting late." Ishimaru told them.

"No! Not like this! It was just getting goo-!" Yamada was cut off by the suddenness of the door opening.

None of them could react fast enough as the door suddenly burst open, thanks to the combined weight of them pressing against the door, plus the swiftness of Naegi opening the door. Both, Naegi's, and the men's eyes met each other for only a brief second before it happened.

*THOMP*

Ikusaba, Kirigiri, and Asahina jumped startled at the sudden crashing sound they heard. Perhaps it was a good thing since it finally snapped both Ikusaba and Kirigiri out of their game-crazed hypnotic state they accidentally put themselves in. This was only confirmed by the sight of them looking at one another before blushing madly.

"Ow..."

There they were, all in a crashed bundle. Yamada, Hagakure, Owada, and Ishimaru, all of whom were currently crashed on top of Naegi, who was appeared to be momentarily knocked out. She winced a bit before slowly opening her eyes, simultaneously being greeted by the opening eyes of the boys. And there she saw, all of them lying on top of her with their heads pressed against her...and her chest.

"..." All Naegi could do was gape her mouth open in shock.

"..." And all the boys could do was widen their eyes in surprise, realizing what they were on top of, and more importantly, where.

"...Nngh..." Naegi quietly squeaked, her eyes starting to water. The sight of it was enough to send the boys into a panic.

"Nononononono-!" They began begging. Naegi couldn't help it.

Never had she been in such a position like this, where she was filled with embarrassment, disgust, and fear, all at the same time. No matter how much the boys begged, nothing would stop their eventual demise.

"This is bad man..." Hagakure closed his eyes in fear.

It didn't help at all.

"**Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh**!" Naegi cried out in fear and terror as she burst into tears. The scream was enough to confirm with the three that something had indeed happen, and rushed right over to find the four boys standing in terror at the door, all while Naegi was crying curled up on the floor.

"Naegi!" Asahina yelled worriedly, kneeling down and embracing her in a comforting hug.

If it wasn't for the fact they were standing there like criminals, knowing that death was eventually upon them, the sight of Kirigiri and Ikusaba in their bra and panties, and the sight of Asahina in a night shirt and panties, would've been a glorious sight to beheld for the quadruplets.

Ikusaba glared angrily looking back between the tearful Naegi and the guilty men. "What the hell did you do to here?!" She shouted. Asahina soothingly pat Naegi behind her head, trying to calm her down.

"T-They," Naegi sniffled, "t-they g-g-ganged up and j-jumped me, and t-they...t-t-they t-touched...Eughhuhuh..." Naegi couldn't even bring herself to finish her sentence as she cried into Asahina's arms. Asahina couldn't help but gasp in shock, glaring angrily at guilty party.

"They what?!" Asahina stammered.

"N-No! No! No!" Owada shouted back waving his hands. At the time, all four of them were backing up slowly with fear. "Y-You don't get it, it's not what it sounds like!"

"Yeah! Our faces only fell onto her boobs, I swear!" Yamada said in a panic.

"**YAMADA**!" The other three yelled.

*clunk*

If Death himself sent an angel, the figure towering over them from behind was living proof of it. There she stood, Sakura Oogami, with a radiating aura that could even manage to make the gods tremble before her. The very sight of her told them that they only had seconds to live.

"Which of you wants to die the quickest?" She growled, cracking her knuckles loud enough to send shivers down their spines.

"I-I don't suppose...a nice, peaceful sit down and chat is in order...?" Ishimaru proposed. The others looked at him questionably. "...It was worth suggesting!"

The boys looked at Oogami once more before all having the same idea- they bailed as fast as their legs could run. Oogami took a quick look over to Asahina who was still trying to comfort her sulking friend. As if reading Oogami's mind, while still glaring, Asahina gave her a confirming nod, telling her what she needed to know. With a nod back, Oogami quickly chased after the four boys like a mad bull, one that wouldn't stop for anything.

You could actually feel the ground tremor with each step Oogami took.

After watching the bull give chase, Asahina sighed, smiling back down to her crying friend warmly. Of all things, she couldn't blame Naegi for the fright she just went through with the guys practically face-groping her. Even she would break down from such a scene if she was in Naegi's shoes...if she was wearing any at the moment.

She looked back as she saw Ikusaba kneeling down next to her as well, trying to help comfort her as well with a smile. It was a comforting scene to see, assuring Naegi that around here, she was at least comforted by close friends, and she didn't have to worry about anything. Even Kirigiri tried alleviating the stress by offering her Naegi's normal PJ's, the ones that weren't transparent and consisted of both a shirt and pants.

It was definitely better than being out in the open in nothing but undergarments like Ikusaba and Kirigiri currently were.

And all this time, as he watched, Monokuma couldn't help but laugh, as the fun had already started, and he didn't even begin the first phase of his plan...

...

...

...

A/N: Hoofta! I have to admit, i had a bit of fun with this chapter XP I don't mean to seem like the perv and whatnot, but hey! I warned ya in advance, it WAS a fan-service episode XD! *sigh* well as always, leave a like, fav, and rev if you enjoyed ^^ Can guarantee, for those who become the 10th consistent reviewers of this fic, you can expect Bonus episodes of your choice, which can have shenanigans just like this if you enjoy ^^

Rinse, Lather, and Repeat!

Like, fav, and review ^^!


	10. Sleepover, Fanservice, Part 2

A/N: Hey y'all. I'd like to thank you all for your continued support!...although one thing does slightly bother me...I haven't gotten a single feedback about the "Fan-service episode"! Seriously, it's not a matter of review or not, I'm just surprised I haven't gotten a single piece of feedback yet, be it positive or negative. I'm not necessarily complaining or anything about it- I'm just surprised is all XP It was definitely "different" compared to my usual work (I thought a little comedy relief chp was in order) but no one said anything. I can't tell if that's good or bad since I didn't get a complaint either.

I don't know, it's just one of those things in life people feel, or things seem weird to for some reason XP.

*sigh* either way, please enjoy the FF ^^

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...

...

"Huff, ok...are you two calmed down now?" Asahina asked, sitting on the bed next to Naegi.

After the little incident several minutes ago, she was now wearing her old PJ's again as opposed to her somewhat transparent Nightie Ikusaba had picked out for her the day before. It wasn't exactly any issue she had with the pajamas themselves, but when you have four boys suddenly collapse on you with their faces crushed against your breast, it's a nightmare to anyone.

Part of the blame came from two parties at the same time. The first had to come from the girl's slumber party. What started as a (questionably) simple game of strip poker, according to Ikusaba a "Fun Version", turned into a full fledge duel between her and Kirigiri, who had decided to participate in the festivities at the time.

It's not like she had any choice in the matter. Having been contacted by Monokuma himself an hour earlier, he threatened Naegi's life if Kirigiri refused to participate in the sleep over. Not only did he force her hand, but he also confirmed about her suspicions about Mukuro Ikusaba having some relation to him. All it meant to her was that Ikusaba was indefinitely a traitor.

So, having finally come across the scene that greeted her upon arriving at said slumber party, she was quickly thrust into a one-on-one strip poker match against Ikusaba herself, who was rather pissed after ruining her chances of stripping Naegi down to her undergarments.

From there, the two began what could only be known as a "Strip-Off", for lack of a better term, with Kirigiri and Ikusaba being on par in terms of poker skill. The two went at it for nearly a straight half hour, being even-even on both sides. It began disturbing both Naegi and Asahina as to how far these two could possibly go, considering they seemed to be really on edge, not even stopping once they came down to their bras and panties.

To escape the increasingly stressful scenery around them, Naegi and Asahina were prepared to go out for a walk around the hallways, not wanting to see just how far this strip game was going to bring these two. In preparation for the little walk, while Naegi was ready to head out the door, Asahina was bringing snacks.

Opening said door resulted in an event that's best not repeated. To put it vaguely, Naegi had a breakdown from the sight of four eavesdropping men suddenly collapsing onto her, face-first into her breasts.

As to what the other side was doing, aka the boys, they were also having what they call an "All Nighter" back in the lunchroom, where they planned on spending all night in the lunchroom. Their party consisted of wise cracks, jokes, and everything along the lines.

But just like all boys, when you have a girl's slumber party going on a few yards away, you can't help but grow curious about what might be beyond the point of no return, or the doorway into Naegi's room where the slumber party was taking place.

With their curiosity growing too intense, they did the most simple of things one would do in this situation- come and eavesdrop by leaning against Naegi's room. During said time, they didn't expect to hear many of the things that went on in the other room, nor did they fully understand why they were hearing said things.

From what little they heard, they believed an entirely different event was going on within the room, something that kept them from hearing the footsteps or realize the door handle was jiggling, followed by bursting open due to the boys' combined weights and Naegi suddenly opening the door.

The rest brings us to where we are presently. And now that the two red-faced girls have finally settled down, they couldn't help but find themselves somewhat embarrassed from how far they pushed each other in their little game, and the fact all of them were now back in their night shirts and panties.

"Yeah...we're calm..." Kirigiri mumbled, brushing the hair from her face with a slight blush.

"I feel slightly light headed." Ikusaba moaned rubbing her head with a blush as well.

"You two really have a competitive side, you know that?" Naegi said. The two girls looked at each other for a minute before turning away.

"Sorry..." They both apologized.

"So...can we just have a normal sleep over?" Naegi asked scratching her head. "I'd sorta like to forget what happened awhile ago." She said with a slight frown. Asahina gave her a slight sympathetic look as she patted her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess." Ikusaba replied. The other three looked to Kirigiri, noticing her utter silence. She glanced her eyes back and forth among the three, but continued to remain silent.

"Something wrong, Kirigiri?" Asahina asked curiously. Kirigiri continued having a slight blush on her face, even though it was light.

"..." She couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"Come on Kirigiri, what's up?" Naegi asked. Unlike Asahina, Kirigiri took the time to actually look at Naegi as she spoke, but she still felt a little uneasy.

"Mh...w-well..." She turned away once more. "W-What do we do now?" She asked. Everyone looked at her with confusion.

"What do you mean?" Naegi asked again.

"W-Well... W-What do we do...at a sleepover?" She finally asked. Now everyone looked at her with some surprise.

"What do you mean what do we do at a sleepover?" Asahina asked. "Haven't you ever been to..." The expression on Kirigiri's face said it all.

"I meant what I said earlier about not doing slumber parties...I just don't do them." Kirigiri stated. Naegi tilted her head curiously.

"Why not? I mean, didn't you hang out with your friends when you were little?" Naegi asked. There was something rather depressing about the utter silence coming from Kirigiri.

"...I'd rather not talk about it." She replied.

It wasn't entirely because of the lack of friends she had growing up. The issue came with the fact that one of her "enemies" were just sitting three feet away from her. She hated herself for being tricked by Monokuma like this, but she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't afford to have anything happen to Naegi for...reasons.

She couldn't even tell if Murkuro Ikusaba was even informed as to why Naegi was here with them or not. She didn't even know how they were communicating with one another! All she knew is that she had to make sure she kept an eye on Ikusaba, and wait for an opportunity to expose her and what she's doing.

"Just..." Kirigiri looked back to Naegi. "What do we do at a sleepover?"

"That's rather depressing." Ikusaba commented looking away. She felt herself slightly tense up as she noticed the depressed frown Naegi was giving her for making such a comment. "I-I mean that in a sad way!" She quickly lied, not wanting Naegi to look down on her.

Much to Kirigiri's surprise, and startled, Ikusaba quickly embraced her into a, very, tight hug, practically crushing her between her breasts. "I feel VERY sorry for poor Kirigiri," Ikusaba "apologized", trying to sound sympathetic while simultaneously suffocating her at the same time, "the poor thing hasn't had a single sleep over for who knows how long..."

"Ngh...annf...eeef..."KIrigiri muttered, being muffled by Ikusaba's chest. It was at this point it was clearly obvious she was trying to suffocate her intentionally, mostly due to the fact Ikusaba refused to let go even after Kirigiri tried pushing her off.

"Umm... I-Ikusaba? I think you're crushing her..." Naegi said, noticing Kirigiri slowly changing colors.

"Huh?" Ikusaba looked down to Kirigiri, pretending as if she didn't even notice Kirigiri suffocating. "Oops! Silly me!" She apologized letting her go.

"Heck-ahoughh..." Kirigiri coughed, rubbing her neck soothingly to help clear her throat. She grumbled to herself as she gritted her teeth, knowing Ikusaba did it on purpose.

"Sorry Kirigiri, I didn't mean to suffocate you like that." Kirigiri was absolutely certain that Ikusaba was taunting her. The fact she was doing it and capable of getting away with it right in front of Naegi really pissed her off. She forced herself to give her a fake smile back.

"Not...a...problem..." She grumbled back. Naegi and Asahina smiled to each other, glad the two were getting along, at least it appeared that way to them. With their attention momentarily diverted, Kirigiri quickly did what she could for a quick counterattack. "After all it's not your fault if those cheap implants tend to get in the way." She muttered. The sight of Ikusaba's brow twitching was all the satisfaction she needed.

"So," Naegi started talking again, grabbing the attention of both girls, "you've never been to a single sleep over before, Kirigiri?" Kirigiri blushed a bit once more. Aside from the answer to said question, something about when Naegi asked it made her feel...strange.

"N-No, I... I haven't." Kirigiri replied once more. "I can't go into detail, but let's just say I've had too many things occupying my time." She explained. "So, again...what do we do?" She asked.

Naegi opened her mouth to reply before suddenly pausing. "Umm..." She looked up in thought with a curious expression on her face. "We...well...We just, you know, hang out and all." Naegi answered.

"Hang...out?" Kirigiri questioned. Asahina chuckled nervously.

"It's not exactly something specific, you know?" She commented. "It's just, well..." Asahina frowned a bit lowering her head. "...Huh...I honestly don't know how to explain it..."

"It's like the morning meetings!" Naegi said with a smile. "We just gather around, talk about stuff, play around, that sorta thing."

Asahina smiled. "Yeah! That sounds about right." She agreed. Despite the explanation, Kirigiri actually found herself more confused than ever.

"We just...talk?" Kirigiri couldn't understand. "About what?"

"You know, just...stuff." Naegi said casually.

"Stuff?" Kirigiri repeated. "Like what?

"Just... girl stuff." Asahina answered.

"What girl stuff?"

"Wow, you really haven't been to a sleep over, have you?" Ikusaba asked. For once, it was a legitimate question, and not one which involved taunting or teasing in any manner.

"So...what do we talk about then?"

"Well for starters, do you have a boyfriend?" Asahina asked excitedly.

She turned herself around so she was lying on her chest, her body slightly being forced to lie up due to her breasts. Naegi smiled growing the same idea, quickly turning around so she was doing the same. Sadly due to a difference in size, her breasts didn't have the same effect.

"A... boyfriend?"

"Yeah, you know! Someone you're dating?" Asahina added.

"Oh... Well no then." KIrigiri bluntly answered. There wasn't as much excitement from it as Asahina would've hoped for.

"..."

"..."

"..."

With the lack of sound going on throughout the room, Kirigiri assumed it was her turn. "So...do you have a boyfriend?" She asked back.

"Sadly, no." Asahina replied with a small smile.

"What?!" Ikusaba yelped. "With your body, I'd think men would be drooling over you!" Ikusaba... complimented? Even Asahina couldn't tell as a red blush came over her face.

"Umm...thanks?" She replied rubbing the back of her head. "There is some truth to that though. But, sadly, at the same time, well," Asahina crossed her arms, shifting her eyes away irritated, "you know, men only want one thing..."

"What?" Kirigiri asked. Even Naegi was surprised she didn't get the idea.

"You're kidding, right?" Ikusaba asked in disbelief.

"Money?" Kirigiri guessed. The three others could only stare at each other.

"...Pfffft! Hahahaha!" The three burst into laughter, not noticing Kirigiri's confusion.

"Seriously, what?" Kirigiri asked. She didn't like the fact there was something three of them knew that she didn't.

"They wanna fuck!" Ikusaba yelled. The laughter died down as Asahina and Naegi looked at her surprised.

"I-Ikusaba!" Naegi yelled in surprise, blushing like Asahina. Ikusaba tried giving her an innocent smile.

"W-Well, it's true..." She mumbled.

"Huh. So is it my turn now?" Kirigiri wondered.

"Turn?" Asahina asked.

"Yeah, to ask a question." She clarified.

"Oh! Heh," Asahina chuckled a little. "Well there aren't really any "turns", but I guess so."

"Alright." She rubbed her chin turning to Naegi. "Naegi." She firmly said tot get her attention. "Hmm... What's your favorite food?" She asked. Naegi couldn't help but tilted her head.

"Seriously?" Naegi asked.

"Come on, Kirigiri, it has to be better than that." Asahina tried encouraging her. "Make it something exciting, like the boyfriend question!" She recommended.

"Oh, sorry." Kirigiri paused for a few seconds deep in thought. "Ok, I got one."

"Alright, so let's hear it!" Naegi replied excitedly.

"Do you have a Girlfriend?" Kirigiri calmly asked. Naegi flinched at the question, blushing madly.

"W-Wh-What?" Naegi stuttered. None of the others were expecting such a question.

"I asked if you have a-"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID!" Naegi quickly shouted, still blushing. "I mean why would you ask such a thing?!"

"Well, Asahina asked for the boyfriend, so I had to ask something different." She explained calmly.

"I-I know, b-b-but you're not supposed to ask something like t-that!" Naegi told her.

"So is that a yes or a no?" Kirigiri tilted her head.

"It's a no!" Naegi snapped.

"Couldn't get one?" Kirigiri asked.

"N-No, it's not like that! I-..." Naegi paused suddenly thinking. "Wait...are you...you know..." Naegi asked.

"What?" Kirigiri didn't have a single clue.

"Are you gay?" Ikusaba had no issue asking the question.

"No, why?" Kirigiri had no idea what the issue was.

For a brief moment, Ikusaba's transmitter buzzed, letting her know of an incoming message.

"I swear, if you get any kissing footage, I will personally reserve the entire fifth floor for you and Naegi." It promised. Ikusaba couldn't help but mentally grin.

"Umm, Kirigiri, we won't judge you if you are, you know." Asahina kindly told her.

"But I'm not." Kirigiri assured. "Why would I be?"

"W-Well...I mean who goes around and asks something like that?" Asahina asked.

"I thought it was just the rules of the game, to ask a more interesting question." Kirigiri replied.

"Game? Kirigiri, asking each other questions isn't a game, it's just a conversation." Asahina stated. Kirigiri actually blushed slightly, not understanding the idea.

"Oh...sorry." She apologized. Naegi gave her a small smile.

"It's ok." Naegi said. "Even if you asked, I don't have a boyfriend either." She frowned slightly lowering her head. "The reasons being...you know..." Asahina stroke her back softly trying to comfort her.

"Hey, it's ok, don't worry. Any boy would be lucky to have you." Asahina tried cheering her up. Naegi smiled a little.

"Well I'm hoping my chances will increase with my new look and all." Naegi hoped.

"Sure they will!" Asahina encouraged.

"Our first priority then should be getting out of here." Kirigiri responded. Both Asahina and Naegi looked to her at this. "We can't think of what we'll be doing until after we get out of here."

"Not to sound encouraging, but maybe when enough floors are unlocked, after the final floor, the headmaster will let us go?" Asahina guessed. Naegi looked at her worriedly.

"Are you saying let the murders happen until eventually-"

"No, not that!" Asahina quickly cut off. "I'm just saying in worst case scenario!" She turned back to Kirigiri. "As for alternative ideas, maybe we should see if there's any like ducts or open vents or something around the school." She turned to Naegi. "I mean, a mosquito bit Fujisaki one time, remember? It had to have gotten in some how."

"It did?" Ikusaba asked surprised.

Asahina nodded. "Yeah! It must've gotten in some how."

"I believe if we figure out where it came from, we can best determine how it escaped." Kirigiri said with a smile.

"..."

Ikusaba looked away frowning, which Naegi noticed. She knew all about what was going on, all about what the outside world was like. And obviously, she couldn't tell them at all about what has been transpiring for who knows how long. And out of all of it, she didn't want to lose Naegi most of all.

"Something on your mind, Mukuro?" Naegi asked. Ikusaba gave her a slight smile for a few seconds, but frowned looking away again.

"D...Do you guys reeeally want to get out of here?" She asked. Everyone looked at her strangely, although Kirigiri also added extra suspicion to what she was already sure of.

"What do you mean? Of course we want to get out of here!" Asahina exclaimed.

"Why?" Ikusaba simply asked. There was growing confusion from the three, unable to comprehend why Ikusaba would ask such questions.

"Well...you know..." She looked back to the others. "I mean are things really bad here?"

"I already told you-"

"Why do you think they are?" Ikusaba interrupted. "What makes this place so bad?"

"Haven't you been paying any attention?" Kirigiri nearly shouted. "People are dying here!"

"And? What's the difference?"

"Huh?"

"People die on the news everyday, so how is that any different?" Ikusaba asked.

"Well it-..." Asahina was about to argue again when she realized she couldn't. She started lowering her head slowly as she tried to think.

"It's what? Different? You think it makes a difference just because you're not there in person?"

"Quit twisting our words!" Kirigiri did yell. "We're being forced to play this sick game by some sick twisted Fuck!" She shouted. Asahina and Naegi jumped a little from the shout. There was something about the way Kirigiri was glaring at Mukuro that made the two feel uneasy. It was almost as if she was talking to the headmaster directly, and they knew for a fact that wasn't possible.

Ikusaba wasn't doing much better in terms of looking any nicer. She was looking at Kirigiri with such scorn, you'd think they were mortal rivals or something. The atmosphere wasn't feeling all that great with the two girls staring down each other, practically wishing that the other one would die. It was just pure anger.

*Spizz*

The two girls flinched as they suddenly felt a small douse of water suddenly sprayed on them. Looking back, they saw Naegi with a simple smile, having just opened a soda can which she shook up and sprayed them with.

"You girls need to calm down, seriously." Naegi stated, offering them both a can of pop. "We're supposed to be having a party tonight. Why don't we just forget about everything and just enjoy ourselves?" She declared.

Kirigiri and Ikusaba looked to each other briefly before sighing. The both of them were practically at each other's throats, and the both of them were ready to take a crack at each other. But neither of them wanted to be responsible for ruining Naegi's slumber party, or make Naegi depressed.

It was almost as if the two were reading each other's mind, but they both agreed, that they would settle their dispute later. They would definitely at least act peaceful in front of her.

...

...

...

"Ooooogh..." Hagakure groaned. He rubbed his aching back in the hopes of soothing the immense pain he was feeling. None of the others were much better off than him, all of them rubbing various parts of their body to ease the pain they were all going through.

It wasn't like they didn't deserve it though. Not many people can say they've tried sneaking into, spy on, or even eavesdrop on a girl's slumber party without ending up with a few bruises here or there. And not many can even think of getting away with rubbing their faces into a girl's breasts, even if accidental, and get away with it without punishment as a consequence.

Said punishment came in the form of Sakura Oogami, who caught the perpetrators just after committing their foul deed and scaring Naegi. She did give them a small amount of mercy by giving them a twelve-second running head start, but even that wasn't enough to outrun the raging demon.

The amount of pain she inflicted upon each of them within the fifteen seconds they were being punished was unimaginable to describe. Some of them could only beg for mercy that Monokuma would put them out of their misery to finish them off quickly. None of them had any broken bones or sprains, but that is actually saying a lot to the woman who could break their bodies like a twig, and managed to do so without breaking a single bone.

It was true hell they went through.

"I can't feel my leeeegs..." Hagakure moaned.

"I think I see a light." Yamada commented, lying on his back with his arms to the side. It was technically a ceiling light he was looking at. "Tell my mother, I love her." He groaned.

"Violence...isn't acceptable...in a hallway..." Ishimaru pained to say as he lied on his side.

"I need more ice...I can still feel her punching me..." Owada yelled in misery, setting a third ice pack on his forehead. He was the only one who was least in pain, sitting in his chair with his feet on the table. Even the black right eye he currently had didn't feel as bad as this. And the ice back only numbed the pain for a few brief seconds before it melted right away.

Ouch.

"Dude...why didn't you try to defend us?" Hagakure groaned. "You could've held her off...so we could run a bit longer..."

"Way to be the hero." Owada rolled his eyes. "I can't fight girls man...even if it kills me." He told them.

"At least she had the decency to bring us back to the lunchroom." Ishimaru weakly said, trembling in pain as he groggily worked his way up to the chair. "We wouldn't be able to make it back before the night time announcement otherwise." He let out a groan of pain as he let his arms fall to his sides once he was seated. He didn't have the energy to bring them above the table.

"I can still see a light." Yamada moaned again. "I think it's getting brighter."

"Stay out of the light Yams! STAY OUT OF HE LIGHT!" Hagakure cried.

"I didn't even know Yamada could be bent that far." Owada commented.

"...I can't." Yamada replied.

"At least we got to see something in our final moments of joy." Hagakure said, getting in his chair as well.

"Dude, freaking having a four-way-motorboat with Naegi's breasts is just low man, even if it was accidental!" Owada yelled before groaning. "Now I owe her another apology..."

"Actually I was talking about seeing the others in their undies and bras, man." Hagakure meant. "I didn't even know Kiri' was into bunnies."

"At least you apologized for hitting her before hand, bro." Ishimaru reminded. "To have that upon the previous issue would've been unacceptable, even if you did apologize."

"I can still see a light." Yamada replied for a third time.

"We know, we know." The other three groaned.

"But at least now, we can get back to having a Guy's Night, right?" Hagakure tried lightening the mood.

"Yeah...once the pain goes away at least." Owada replied. "I say we get back to partying as soon as we can. It'll help make the pain go away."

"Can we really continue on though after what we did?" Ishimaru asked Owada. "Maybe we should go back to apologize, at least to Naegi."

"Yeah man, I feel like shit too," Owada agreed, "but we only got like three minutes until the night time thing kicks in. Let's just wait until tomorrow, then apologize in the morn'."

"Speaking of which, what do we do now dude?" Hagakure asked. "Part of the plan was playing around, but after what Ogre did, I can't really move too much."

"Let's just get back to talking or something." Owada suggested crossing his arms. "Where did we leave off?"

"I think we left off with Yams' drowning idea." Hagakure answered.

"Oh yeah...anyone got something that can top that?" Owada asked around.

"I can still see a light." Yamada groaned.

"**We know!**"

...

...

...

_**Diiing dooong...**_

_**diiiing dooooong...**_

"_**Ahem, may I have your attention please? The time is now 10:00 P.M. Night Time is now in effect! The cafeteria is now off-limits, and the doors will be locked momentarily. And with that, I wish you all a good night. Sweet dreams...**_". Monokuma announced.

...

...

...

"Upupupu!" Monokuma cackled with laughter. Looking at all the monitors displaying the numerous student, seeing all of them trying to have a grand, joyful time...it was sickening to him. But he at least had everything he needed to make his night exciting now.

"Let's get the ball rolling!" He cheered, suddenly typing into his computer.

...

...

...

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

"Huh?" The girls looked back towards the door.

"Ugh, it's probably those stupid boys again!" Ikusaba grumbled, already marching towards the door.

"Be careful!" Naegi warned, not wanting her to suffer the same fate as her.

With a turn of the knob, Ikusaba angrily pulled the door open. "Hey! I thought we told you-!" Ikusaba suddenly paused as she noticed no one was there.

She looked to her left, and then to her right, but she saw no one. Not even Oogami was in view, though, only because she was patrolling on the other side of the hall. With all directions viewed, save for one, she decided to glance downwards on the off chance something was there.

To her surprise, she was right. There was a strange present, wrapped up in wrapping paper, and tied in a neat pink bow, greeting her. There was even a small tag on the string attached to it that read "Hope you girls have fun! - Anonymous", although it was pretty obvious who it was from. Even if it wasn't, the fact the wrapping paper had pictures of Monokuma's face printed on it was a dead giveaway.

Still, she was undercover, so whatever it was, it told her it was all part of some plan. She hated the part she was slightly in the dark about whatever this plan was, but she wouldn't argue with it all the same. With a sigh, she casually picked up the present, carrying it inside with her and closing the door. There was a little weight to it, and she noticed it jingled a bit. The only thing she could picture the contents being some form of drink.

"Hey Naegi, you got a package." Ikusaba said, handing the present over to her.

"Hmm?" Naegi eyed the package suspiciously. Kirigiri's eyes twitched slightly, noticing the wrapping done around it. It was too obvious to her who it belonged to.

"Don't open it!" She commanded her. "It's from Monokuma." Naegi looked to her strangely.

"Yeah, but why would he send me something?" She asked.

"Maybe it's a bomb!" Asahina said worriedly.

"Nah, can't be." Ikusaba said with confidence. "He wouldn't be trying to bomb us or he'd risk breaking his own rules." Naegi shook the box slightly trying to get an idea of what was inside.

"Besides, it feels sort of heavy but weird." Naegi commented.

"It feels weird?" Kirigiri raised a brow.

"Yeah, like there's more than one thing in here." Naegi explained.

She knew staring at it wasn't going to get them anywhere, but it still felt wrong to her all the same. She gulped slightly to herself as she slowly began tearing off the wrapping paper, her heart beating faster with nervousness after each tear. Pulling off the last of the paper, it didn't answer their question to what was inside as it was just a plain, cardboard box with a top piece.

Looking to the others one more time, Naegi slowly began pulling the top of the box off, tossing the cover aside to get a better look at what was inside. To Kirigiri's fascination, Naegi looked rather curious and interested in the contents, already reaching down and trying to pull something out of it. It didn't make Kirigiri worry any less, but at least it told her that it, probably, wasn't a bomb or explosive.

"What's in it?" Asahina asked. Naegi struggled a bit, looking like the contents were stuck to something, but only for a brief time.

"It's a bottle." She revealed, pulling out a strange green, translucent bottle that had a purplish liquid inside of it.

She began handing a single bottle to each of the girls, the gift having just enough for each one of them. All of them were in the shape of wine bottle, even with a cork on the top of each one. There wasn't a label or anything though to tell them what was inside of the bottle, only a single Monokuma logo printed on the front, and everyone's name printed within the white space of his face.

"What the heck is this stuff" Asahina asked. She turned the bottle around all over to get a better glimpse of the fluid inside.

"Whatever it is, we shouldn't drink it!" Kirigiri warned firmly. "If it came from Monokuma then you know we can't just-"

*pop*

All eyes shifted to Ikusaba as she suddenly popped the cork from the bottle. Apparently she cared little about anything Kirigiri was suddenly trying to say.

"Seems fine to me." She said. Kirigiri didn't know how to respond to that. If she was working for the headmaster in some way, then surely she wouldn't risk drinking something possibly poisonous. Then again, she could just be trying to trick everyone else into drinking first.

Naegi eyed the bottle again curiously. The fact it didn't blow up from simply popping the cork off the top, nor did the box explode upon opening it, was pretty safe to assume it wouldn't blow up. Shrugging her shoulders, she gave the cork a tug as well, popping it off with ease.

The sight of this worried Kirigiri herself, but by the time she was about to say something, she was interrupted by another pop coming from Asahina. She gritted her teeth with irritation, knowing she was forced to follow along. Granted, she didn't trust the drink one bit, but she didn't want Asahina or Naegi to go through anything alone if the drink did something to them. Perhaps she could figure out a way to fix the problem it may cause if she experienced it herself.

*sniff*

*sniff*

"It smells fruity to me." Naegi commented. In suit, the other girls also proceeded to smell it as well. It was surprisingly good smelling, yet the smell didn't distract Kirigiri from her worries.

"What do you think it is?" Asahina asked.

"Maybe it's wine?" Naegi replied questionably.

"Meh, if that Mono-thing is too picky about the rules, I doubt he'd bring anything alcoholic here." Ikusaba said.

Knowing nothing would get done by simply sitting around, Ikusaba took the initiative and dabbed a bit of the drink onto her finger. She proceeded to suckle on her finger immediately after for a small taste, and to see if it was strange in any way.

Her eyes opened widely.

"Oh my god, this is delicious!" She shouted excitingly. She proceeded to glug down the rest of the drink with satisfaction, stopping after taking in a fourth to let out a sigh. "It's amazing! I feel wide awake!" Naegi and Asahina both eyed the bottle once again before turning to each other.

"Do you think-" Naegi began asking.

"I'm telling you not to!" Kirigiri said again with a little worry. "Nothing good can come from this!"

"Well, Ikusaba looks fine with it." Asahina noted, watching as Ikusaba continued chugging down the drink. Ikusaba paused after drinking halfway, looking at Naegi with continued excitement.

"Naegi, trust me, you've GOT to try this!" Ikusaba suggested. "It's wonderful! I feel wide awake!" She stated.

"Huh...well in that case..." Naegi replied, tilting the bottle up.

"Naegi-!" Kirigiri tried shouting. But it was too late. By the time Kirigiri finished, Naegi was already swallowing a small amount of said liquid. Coming into contact with the strange liquid, Naegi's eyes immediately lit up.

"It's amazing!" Naegi continued drinking. Naturally, Asahina decided to give the bottle a try as well, meeting with the same result.

"I feel wonderful!" Asahina said excitedly.

Kirigiri could only groan with herself. She didn't want to join in on the drinking, knowing this was somehow Monokuma's trap, but at the same time, didn't feel like she had a choice. If she didn't take it, then she would never figure out how to counteract whatever the drink could do to Naegi and the others.

On top of that, there was a chance Monokuma would, once again, threaten Naegi some how if she did refuse. She hated herself by this point, but didn't contemplate it for too long.

With a slight gulp before hand, mostly from nerves, she quickly took a swig of the drink as well, swallowing a mouthful in one single gulp.

"..." Kirigiri looked down at the bottle completely dazzled and wide eyed. "This IS good." She complemented.

"What do you think it's supposed to do to us?" Asahina asked the others.

"Who knows. Maybe it's just some caffeine thing?" Naegi guessed shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, after all this, I just feel a little bit more awake, but I don't feel bad in any way at all."

"So what, the idea was to make us all hyper and caffeinated or something?" Ikusaba asked. "Tch, ooooohh, how evil, now we'll never get to sleep." She joked, grinning as she took another drink.

Kirigiri couldn't help but blush slightly, but only due to the fact she felt slightly silly from earlier. "I guess it's not all that bad." She admitted. "But it has to be part of some plan!" She was sure.

"Well, maybe it's better if we all take it then. At least then, if something happens, we can all find out a way to deal with it together." Asahina said. She at least had the certainty that if something did happen, they could deal with it as long as they had one another.

"Well...maybe..." Kirigiri mumbled. "Anyone feel weird yet?" She wondered looking around.

Naegi shook the bottle somewhat while staring at it. "Aside from being awake, I don't feel different at all." She replied.

"Ah, that hit the spot." Iikusaba said, setting her now-empty bottle down on the ground.

"You already finished?" Asahina asked slightly impressed. "It was a large bottle you know."

"I know, but it was sooooooooooo good!" She replied, holding her sides with glee.

"So do you feel any different now it's gone?" Naegi asked.

"Any cravings or something for more?" Kirigiri also asked. Ikusaba tapped her chin, looking up in thought.

"Umm...no, not really." She shook her head. "I mean, I wouldn't mind one more but I don't feel crazy about another one."

"Phew," Asahina sighed, "least we don't have to worry about some sort of "I would kill for another one of these" scenario." She said with a smile. She enjoyed each and every sip she took of it.

"Huh!" Ikusaba gasped, catching everyone's attention.

"W-What?" Asahina asked concerned.

"I feel something!" She revealed. Everyone stopped their drinking as they looked to Ikusaba worriedly.

"Are you feeling ok?" Naegi asked worriedly.

"Just steady your heart rate," even Kirigiri tried warning, "if it's a poison, it'll spread through your body faster if it's beating too fast!"

"I feel..." Ikusaba muttered staring off into space.

"I feel..."

"I feel...!" Everyone looked to her with fear and panic.

***BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELCH**!*

*crash*

"Awww-!" The girls groaned as Ikusaba could only laugh. She completely fell backwards in her chair from the enormous burp she just pulled off. While Asahina and Kirigiri found it disgusting, Naegi couldn't help but chuckle afterwards, finding it slightly funny as well.

Especially the bit where she fell backwards in her chair as a result. That part got to her the most.

"That was gross!" Asahina complained, waving her hand in front of her nose as if fanning a smell.

"It was funny!" Naegi said happily. Ikusaba chuckled a bit more as she got back in her chair again after setting it up.

"Thanks..." She replied. "I'm sorry, but really, I feel just fine." She admitted. Kirigiri could only roll her eyes, both at Ikusaba and herself.

She found it funny with herself how she could even consider feeling slightly worried for Ikusaba, even if she knew about her secrets. Perhaps the party was just getting to her too much.

"I guess the drinks really are safe then." Asahina said with a light smile, finishing off her bottle. "I mean really, what harm could they do?"

...

...

...

"So what do you think it is?" Owada asked, looking at the bottle in his hand.

Much like the girls, only a single minute passed after the Night Time announcement went off, and no sooner had a minute passed, did a mysterious box plop down from the ceiling, straight on the table in the middle of all the boys.

Like the girls, they were all cautious and worried about what it could be, opening it slowly while being careful. Fortunately, nothing blew up or exploded after tearing off the numerous pieces of wrapping paper. What they were greeted with though confused them all. There wasn't a weapon, not some blueprints for pulling off a murder, nothing of the sort. Just four simple bottles with the Monokuma print on one side.

Cautiously, each of them took a bottle and held it carefully in their hands. Even after popping open the corks though, nothing bad appeared to happen. It, at least seemed, harmless.

"So...who first?" Owada asked, looking around. They all agreed they had to at least try the drink, no matter how bad or dangerous it could be.

"Eh, let me try first dude." Hagakure offered, sticking his finger right in. However, much to his annoyance, he couldn't get his finger out. "Stupid bottle thing..." He groaned, trying with all his might to pry his finger from it's confines. "My finger's stuck guys!" He cried.

"Hahaha," Owada laughed, "you shouldn't have stuck your finger in man!"

"In that case, I shall partake in the sampling." Ishimaru decided, quickly taking a drink of the mysterious bottle. To the surprise of the others, his eyes immediately lit up with anticipation. "It tastes incredible!" He yelled.

Seeing how his own "bro" was satisfied with the drink, Owada gave a shrug as he took a large gulp of it too. Wiping his face off a bit, he smiled. "Damn! This shit is great!" He cheered, continuing to gulp down the liquid inside. Yamada eyed the bottle carefully, but proceeded to take a drink from it as well. He met with the same result.

"Wow! I feel like I could go a round with Master Sakura Oogami herself!" He said with pride.

"Gawwwwww!" Hagakure could only groan, seeing the amazing reaction the drink was giving the others. He continued pulling at the bottle harder and faster, wanting a glimpse of the heaven they were taking. "C'mon you stupid piece of-"

*CRASH*

"NOOOO!" Hagakure cried.

Even with his carefulness, his strength proved too much for him. With one last pull, he managed to pry the bottle off of his finger, much to his joy. However, said joy only lasted a second before he realized the bottle had slipped from his grasp, falling straight down from excess force and shattering upon the floor with drama.

"Noohohoohoo!" Hagakure cried on his knees. "I never even got a taste!"

"Worry not, Hagakure! You can share mine!" Ishimaru said, offering his bottle to Hagakure. Hagakure sniffled a bit before wiping his face.

"T-Thanks Ish, you're a lifesaver!" He shouted, gulping down nearly half the bottle in one go.

"Woah, hey! Take it easy, that still belongs to bro!" Owada shouted slightly angry. However, much to everyone's surprise, Hagakure's expression changed from a simple glimpse of heaven, to that of disgust and sickness.

*PFFFFFFFFFFFT*

"Blegh!" Hagakure spat the liquid from his mouth, actually seeming much more relieved once it was out of his mouth. "This is disgusting! What the heck is that man?!" Hagakure moaned, handing the bottle back to Ishimaru. "You can keep it Ish, that's not worth drinking even if I was dying from dehydration." He firmly stated.

Ishimaru looked at the bottle a little surprised. "Strange... Perhaps it's an acquired taste?" Ishimaru shrugged.

"Ah well, sucks to be you dude. You have no idea what you're missing." Owada told Hagakure happily. "It ain't alcoholic, it ain't poison, it ain't anything but sweet, sweet, heaven!"

...

...

...

"Upupupupu!" Monokuma was definitely excited now.

Everything was going according to plan. The girls were all drinking, and the boys were all drinking, save for Hagakure who found the drink disgusting. He even managed to get some of the others like Oogami to drink the contents, simply by placing it next to where she was meditating.

"All sooooooooo perfect! And now, for the grand finale!" He stated, pressing a few more buttons on his monitor. With a grin, he pressed one more button, then sat back and began to watch the action as it played out.

...

...

...

*ssssssssssssssssssss*

*sniff*

"What's that smell?" Ikusaba asked. Asahina's face quickly lit up.

"I-It wasn't me, I swear!" She yelped.

"No, I don't mean like that, I mean-!" Her eyes suddenly widened as she looked at the floor. "Ahhh!" She screamed jumping to her feet.

Following her gaze, the other girls within Naegi's room suddenly screamed, noticing a strange white gaseous substance suddenly forming all around. It seeped in from the air conditioner, the floors, and even any of the openings from the ceilings where the lights were. As more and more of it came about, the entire room began filling up with it.

"What the heck is this stuff?!" Asahina yelled worriedly.

'Ugghh..." The girls turned their attention towards Naegi as they heard her groan. "Does...anyone else...fffffffee..." Naegi couldn't even finish her sentence as she suddenly passed out like a light, falling face first to her bed.

"Nae-!" Asahina began saying. Unfortunately, she too became a victim of the gas's strange effect, causing her to fall asleep on her side. Ikusaba didn't even get time to say her piece either as a sudden light headedness overtook her. With one last breath, she fell backwards on the table, becoming another victim of the sandman's spell.

The only one who kept on her feet was Kirigiri, and even that wasn't lasting too long. She could already feel her legs getting heavier and heavier, and a strange sensation within her forehead as her consciousness fought to stay awake. But it's powers were no match for Monokuma's mysterious gas, as her eyes began getting heavier and heavier. Falling to her knees and hands, she could only utter two words after.

"Sleeping...gassss..." And with that, her consciousness was also taken away.

...

...

...

_**Diiing dooong...**_

_**diiiiing dooooong...**_

_**"Eh hem, may I have your attention please? Good morning everyone! The time is now 7 A.M. Let's have ourselves another beautiful day!"**_

Naegi winced as she slowly began regaining conscious. She still felt slightly numb from slumber, but she could feel herself waking up more and more. She just couldn't tell what happened last night. Trying to get the feeling in her arms once more, she slowly moved her arms until it was up to her chest, pushing up against the bed and taking in her surroundings.

...Nothing had happened. Everything looked the same as when she went to bed last night. She can't fully recall as to why she fell asleep, but she was pretty sure it was just from the party last night. She smiled sleepily as she rubbed her own eyes, yawning as she stretched her arms.

She slurped her lips slightly and scratched her sides, looking all around. Asahina fell asleep right next to her, Ikusaba, surprisingly, feel asleep flat on the table, and Kirigiri fell asleep a few feet off to the side of her bed. She smiled a bit hopeful, thinking her party must have been a grand success for her party to end up in such a position.

That's when she felt a slight pang in her stomach. Not something she couldn't deal with, just a very minor amount. It was the pang of hunger. She wasn't all too surprised honestly, since all they had to eat and drink last night were party snacks and soda. She wondered if the boys were just as successful with their party or not.

"Hmhmhm, I'll go get us some breakfast." She decided with a smile.

Slowly, she eased herself off the bed, still in her pink pajamas, tiptoeing over to the door carefully. She had a great time with all her friends last night, and the only thing to assure it was a nice warm breakfast for everyone else to wake up to. The only other sounds in the room, other than a minor squeak from the floor every couple steps, were the sounds of her snoring friends.

Around a place like this, surrounded by people she could trust, this is where she felt the most safe.

Finally reaching the door, she opened it slowly behind her, wincing slightly at the loud squeak she accidentally caused from opening at first. Quickly looking back, she sighed quietly, glad she hadn't woken up any of her friends. Stepping out, she just as slowly closed the door behind her, not even letting go of the handle until it was just in the doorway to prevent any excess sounds.

She chuckled to herself once more walking down the hallway. Looking around, everything seemed to be peaceful to her. Everything worked out after all then! With the boys separated in the lunchroom, the girls grouped up in Naegi's room, and Oogami standing guard of the two absent guests, everything was fine! With another yawn, she stretched one more times with her arms in the air.

"Guess things worked out after all." She said with cheer.

That was her last mistake.

*ting*

*fwip*

"Huh?" Naegi asked herself aloud.

She suddenly felt some strange weight on her shoulders, feeling something dangling off her. Even before that, she could have sworn she felt her leg pass something extremely thin, like a string or something. Looking around herself, she found herself growing even more confused as she realized there was a rope around her shoulders.

If it wasn't for the added tiredness from last night, she probably would've realized sooner what this all meant.

But it was too late.

"Gyaaak!" Naegi suddenly screeched.

In one fatal pull, the rope around her suddenly tightened around her neck painfully, suddenly pulling it and herself up into the air. She felt the very air within her lungs being drained out of her body with it, the rope tightening around her tighter and tighter.

"Eeeckkk... acckk!" Naegi coughed. No matter how much she tried to pull, the rope wouldn't loosen any more. In fact, she could almost swear it was continuing to tighten more by each passing second. "Seekkkkkk-!" She tried to shout for help, which only came out as mere squeals.

_I...can't...breath... _She yelled in her mind. She couldn't even tell if she was yelling in her mind anymore or out loud. All she knew was that she couldn't breath.

The tears began flowing from her eyes as the pain continued to increase. No matter how much she tugged at the rope, nor kicked her legs trying to see if she could somehow shake the rope off or something, nothing could help her_. _And the rope was only getting tighter and tighter, dangling her several feet off the ground.

No one was coming for her. No one was going to save her. And one way or another, she would die today.

_Anyone... please..._

...

...

...

A/N: Well that seems like a great place to cut off, don't you just loooove it when someone cuts off at a real dramatic piece ^^? Just like the walking dead, you can never expect it to be happier when it concludes/continues, or if it'll get better once it finishes or not.

The only thing I can tell you is this!

By the end of the next Chapter, Naegi will 100% Die!


	11. The Death of Makoto Naegi

A/N: Mwahahahaha! It's time for the most evil of EEEVIL chapters I've yet to write! Mark my words, Naegi will, literally, physically, no word play whatsoever, DIE, by the end of this chapter. No saving, no salvation, no rescue whatsoever, and no, it's not one of those annoying loops where it's like "Oh, thank god, it was actually a clone/copy of her and not the real one", nothing of the sort!

Naegi WILL DIE in this chapter.

So please enjoy the chapter, suitably labeled "The Death of Naegi" ^^!

...

...

...

*zzzt*

*Bzzzzzzzzt*

"...e..."

"He...p!"

"He...ake up!"

"WAKE UUUUUP!" A voice suddenly shouted.

Ikusaba slowly regained consciousness, wincing her eyes slightly as she suddenly heard the static coming over the transmitter she was wearing on her right ear. Of all the times where she got a message from the voice, she was rather surprised that she was trying to talk to her at some time so early. She let out a small yawn as she tried maintaining some sense of sleep.

"What do you want?" Ikusaba muttered quietly.

"Ohhhhh, not much." The voice said happily on the other side. "I was just watching as always, enjoying the view, keeping an eye on everyone and- Oh!" The voice spoke up slightly. "Dear me, is someone missing from your room?" It asked.

Ikusaba rolled her eyes mentally as she slowly raised her eyelids again. She knew her partner had a bit of an annoying side by being a bit vague on details. Slowly leaning up, she yawned quietly as she raised herself up, looking around. Of all the times to wake her up, why did she wake her up n-

"Naegi" She mumbled, her eyes opening completely. She looked around the floor as she slowly stood up, looking around the room. "Naegi?" She called out again louder. The other two girls were beginning to moan slightly as they woke up to the sound of slightly worrying girl. "Naegi?!" She yelled out louder now, fully waking up the two girls.

"Ngh..." Asahina moaned as she rubbed her eyes. "W-What's going on?" She asked quietly. Kirigiri rubbed her neck from the slightly stiff feeling in it, then took a look around.

She was slightly surprised by the sight of Ikusaba looking in the bathroom suddenly. "What's wrong?" She asked. Ikusaba looked back to her worriedly. The fact she was looking at Kirigiri with anything else other than hate or anger really got her surprised.

"I can't find Naegi!" Ikusaba stated. Even though it woke Asahina up slightly more, she wasn't all too worried.

"Huh?" Asahina mumbled, looking around the room. "Where'd she go?" She asked.

"I don't know!" Ikusaba said in panic, heading over to the door.

"She couldn't have gone that far." Kirigiri said, trying to stretch her arms slightly.

Ikusaba slowly opened the door, looking both directions for her dear friend. The sight she saw as she turned left really shocked her.

"NAEGI!" She screamed, bolting down the hallway quickly.

The scream was enough to scare the other two girls into full alert, waking them up and then some. The two quickly rushed over to the door to see what terrified Ikusaba so much, but were overcame with the same sense of dread upon seeing the same sight.

"Naegi!" They screamed running down.

Further down the hallway, just in between the last two doors, Naegi was dangling there, flailing her legs in mid air and gasping louder and louder with each dying breath. Thankfully, Ikusaba was already there by the time the two saw the scene that was playing out. Ikusaba quickly wrapped Naegi's legs around her head, trying her best to keep her friend supported in mid-air.

The results were negligible, however. Despite Ikusaba's assistance, Naegi continued to gasp and gag for help, unable to get a single decent breath back into her lungs. It definitely confirmed the idea that the rope was continuing to tighten around her neck, not just keep her suspended and hanged in the air. But the girls cared little for the reasoning or mechanism behind it, only Naegi's safety.

"Kiri!" Ikusaba quickly shouted out. "School bag, near the bed! Get the knife!" She shouted to her.

Kirigiri didn't even ask for clarification as she quickly ran back down the hallway once more while Asahina tried to help keep Naegi up in the air. She had no idea how Naegi came into such a position or fate, all the two of them cared about was keeping Naegi alive as much as possible in her current state.

Back in Naegi's room, Kirigiri frantically tossed aside the numerous blankets and party snack bags, trying hard as hell to find the bag Ikusaba told her about earlier. Luckily, it wasn't too hard to find, buried hallway under the bed, being the only bag around with an army design on it. She quickly opened any and all zippers she could find, digging frantically for the knife she was talking about.

After several seconds, she smiled with relief as she found the very knife Ikusaba told her of. She cared absolutely little about fact or detail that Ikusaba had another weapon concealed somewhere around her, only caring for Naegi's life at the time. She quickly tossed the bag aside as she sprinted back towards the door again. It only took one glance down the hallway to tell her she was running out of time. Her wits tested her.

"Ikusaba!" She shouted, suddenly throwing the knife towards her. To the average person, such a feat might seem deadly, tossing a knife head first towards someone who was currently struggling to keep someone else on her shoulders might seem over the top, if not suicidal. It was really a gamble with the amount of time she had to think between running down the hallway and getting back to Ikusaba.

Luckily, her gamble paid off.

The title of Ultimate Soldier wasn't wasted on someone like Ikusaba at all. With stunning swiftness and reflexes, just when the knife was mere inches from her face, she grabbed the knife in one swing, quickly swiping it against the rope with ease. In one simple cut, the rope suddenly broke apart as Naegi fell to the ground from the ceiling, barely being caught in Ikusaba's arms as she fell back.

"Heekughhhheeze..." Naegi was nearly coughing her lungs out as she could finally breathe once more.

"Naegi!" Ikusaba and Asahina yelled worriedly once more, hugging Naegi just tight enough without hurting her. Kirigiri sighed in great relief as she realized Naegi would be alright, smiling as she walked over.

"I...Iku..." She struggled to say as she continued coughing. Her voice was raspy like it had been days beforehand, only this time, her throat hurt entirely.

"Shshsh, just relax, you're ok." Ikusaba cooed slightly. Never has she felt such relief to see someone alive.

"Are you ok? What the hell happened?!" Asahina stammered.

*twing*

*fwip*

"Huh?" Kirigiri mumbled looking down. Ikusaba, Asahina, and Kirigiri looked as a rope dangled around Kirigiri's shoulder. This time though, the student was fully aware of all that was happening and what this rope meant. "Whoa!" She yelled suddenly ducking.

The timing could not have been more précised, as immediately after lowering her head, the rope swooped up into one tight-fitted noose, shrinking down until the noose itself was nothing more than a knot. Without anything to catch this time, the rope simply tied around itself until it snagged on a hook attached to the ceiling. Had she not dodged in time, she would've met a similar fate as that of Naegi.

"Are you ok, Kirigiri?" Asahina asked worriedly. Being closer to the ground, Kirigiri suddenly noticed something that most likely set the trap off.

"A wire?" She mumbled to herself. Looking back to the ceiling, she noticed how the entire hallway was rigged with similar noose-like traps all the way across. It wasn't just meant for Naegi, but just about anyone who could've passed down the hallway.

"The entire hallway's rigged." She announced, pointing up. Ikusaba and Asahina took a glance at the ceiling, growing just as surprised at the sight.

"What the-?!" Ikusaba nearly yelled.

"Who built all of these things?" Asahina asked worriedly.

"Ikusaba, can you hand me the knife?" Kirigiri requested.

Even if she was undercover, she needed to figure out what was going on around here just as much as Kirigiri did. Not even hesitating to, Ikusaba slid the knife across the hallway, knowing Kirigiri would have less likely of a chance to actually catch the knife if she threw it straight at her.

Catching it on her side, Kirigiri carefully crawled across the hallway as she began carefully cutting each and every wire she came across, destroying the trapping mechanism that could set off each trap. With Kirigiri preoccupied, Asahina and Ikusaba turned their attention back towards Naegi.

"So can you tell us what happened?" Asahina asked. Naegi breathed deeply for a few more seconds before managing to reply.

"I-I was...trying to go to the lunchroom to make us breakfast...T-that's when-eckk ughhck!" Naegi began coughing once more. Ikusaba softly patted her back, trying to ease her airways again.

"Shh, just relax, catch your breath for awhile." Ikusaba told her. Naegi gave her a weak and small smile.

"I'm just glad you guys heard me." She commented. "I didn't think anyone could."

"We actually didn't, Naegi. You should be thankful Ikusaba woke up when she did. She was looking for you the minute she woke up." Asahina revealed. Naegi blinked at this.

"Huh, really?" Naegi smiled back again to Ikusaba. "Well either way, tha-"

"Waaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Another voice suddenly cried out in fear. Everyone's attention, even Kirigiri's who was currently down the hallway, turned back towards the other hallway across the entryway.

"What now?" Asahina groaned quickly standing up. "Stay here with Naegi, I'll go check it out." She told them. Ikusaba nodded, giving her the ok as she took off. She looked back to Naegi somewhat worriedly, stroking her face softly as she rested.

_Just what the heck is going on here?_

...

...

...

"Somebody help meeeee!" Hagakure begged.

If Asahina didn't see it herself, she wouldn't believe it. Luckily for her, she didn't encounter any traps or tripwires within the other hallway as she passed. It was rather good to, because she momentarily forgot about any of the said traps as she entered. Luckily it didn't take her too long to find the source of the cry for help, but it didn't confuse her or surprise her any less.

There, Hagakure partly stood, his arms far stretched out so he was leaning forward, his arms just touching the tip of the wall while his feet were barely keeping ground. Between him and the floor, there was a manmade barricade which consisted of many dangerous, lethal pikes which could impale him on a simple touch. Unfortunately for Hagakure, he was positioned so he was leaning forward in such a way, that no matter how he tried to reposition himself, he could neither, pull himself back away from the barricade, nor push himself off safely without risking the chance of slipping and falling.

"God, if you're there, please get off your ass and hel-ack!" He suddenly yelped in fright, not seeing Asahina as she pulled him back from the rim of his jacket. Safely away from the impending death he was facing, he collapsed to his knees once more, relieved that the worst appeared to be over.

"Oh...oh thank god..." He mumbled, breathing exhaustedly as she turned back facing Asahina. "Thanks 'Hina, I didn't know how long I was stuck there..." He thanked her, never knowing how long it's been since he felt so thankful towards someone. Asahina herself was also panting slightly, having ran the entire time to find him.

"No...problem..." She sighed, grabbing his hand and helping him to his feet once more. "What happened anyway?"

Hagakure took another moment to catch his breath. "I...I don't know dude..." He paused finally catching his brp eath. "Hoof, I was just walking around and suddenly found the hallway like this. I looked around a bit but suddenly tripped over somethin' and ended up like this. I've been like this for the last hour!" He whined.

"You've been up for the last hour?" Asahina asked curiously.

"I had to use the bathroom, man. It's personal." Hagakure replied, holding his pants soon after. "And I still gotta man!" Asahina rolled her eyes with a sigh. "And what the hells going on?"

"I don't know, we all just woke up a few minutes ago. Naegi fell for a different trap, but we barely saved her." Asahina replied.

"Naegs fell on a barricade too?"

"N-No, her trap was some noose related thing." Asahina explained. Hagakure rubbed his chin.

"A noose thing?" He repeated. "Why does that sound-"

"Oh! Have you seen Sakura around here?" Asahina asked worriedly.

"Ogre? Yeah dude, she's snoozing further down the hall." Hagakure said pointing with his thumb back.

"She's sleeping?" Asahina was confused. "Why is she asleep, she was supposed to be patrolling the hallways."

"Beats me dude, I just decided to let her have her peace and all."

"Well come on, we need to wake her up!" Asahina said as she quickly walked down the hallways. Hagakure took a moment to take in the scenery around him. Something didn't feel right with him, but he couldn't tell what exactly. With a groan, he quickly followed along behind Asahina, trying to find Oogami.

...

...

...

"Uggh...my head..." Owada groaned, rising his head up from the table.

He yawned inwardly, rubbing his head as he was trying to get all sense of feeling back inside his skull. His entire body felt partly numb, but he couldn't figure out why. He's felt sleepy before, but noting like this. He did what he could to raise himself from the table, rubbing his eyes with his thumb in order to help himself wake up more, and get the tiredness out of his eyes.

"Geh, I feel like I walked a mountain before-" Owada's eyes widened in pure shock. "WHAT! THE! FUCK?!" He shouted.

It wasn't the sight of Yamada sleeping on the table and the fact the table was, miraculously, staying up still. The sight that truly got to him was the fact that both he and Yamada, were currently surrounded by all sides, with an entire lunchroom filled with steel-edged Bear Traps, all sharp and lethal. They wouldn't just break a leg with the amount of sharpness there was, they'd tear it right in half!

"Ooooohh...I see another light-" Yamada began mumbling before seeing the same predicament as Owada was. "Huuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh? Where'd these traps come from?!" Yamada screamed. He suddenly began shaking rapidly for a few seconds, trying to ease his balance in order to not fall off the table.

"Whoa, easy Yamada!" Owada warned. "You set any of these things off and we're all screwed!"

He was probably closer to the truth than he realized. A slightest bit of pressure would've set them off. The vibration one would cause if a single one went off would've sent them all off simultaneously! It was a manner of placement and design. Whoever set these up clearly did a good job in terms of trying to set off all at once.

But even then, that wasn't the first question on Owada's mind.

"Wait a minute, where's Hagakure and bro?" He asked looking around. Yamada took a moment to glance around the room as well.

"He isn't here?" He was just as confused. All he could see were the numerous bear traps that stretched out from the surrounding table to the very edges of the lunchroom.

"Hey guys, you in here?" Naegi was heard suddenly yelling as she rushed into the room.

"Naegi wait! Don't-!" Owada tried warning. But it was already too late.

*SNAP*

"ACK!" Naegi cried in fear. If it wasn't for Ikusaba's timely intervention and lifting Naegi off the ground immediately after, her foot would've been gone for good from the bear trap that suddenly sprang off.

That didn't help though when it came to the others.

*SNAP*

*SNAP*

*SNAP*

*SNAP*

"SHIT!" Owada cursed, jumping on top of his chair and doing his best to keep his balance.

It was like one giant orchestra, played entirely by running and activating bear traps. Trap after trap, the jaws on each and every one of the bear traps began going off, one after the other. Some of them even ended up getting stuck in the jaws of others. If you watched from above, it kind of made an interesting pattern like a domino effect, watching each of them go off, then immediately starting off the other one next to it right after.

Though, in Yamada's and Owada's case, it wasn't as exciting. The only bit of safety they had was the fact they were above ground, even if only mere feet. While some of them flailed around into the air and whatnot, most of them remained on the ground where they were set off, save for one or two that went several feet into the air, but at least it was away from Owada and Yamada.

It took an entire two minutes before all the bear traps finally went off. It was a nuisance to listen to, and even more frightening to be a part of. The only thing the two caught in the middle cared about though, was the fact that they had all finally gone off, or at least enough to let them walk through and out of the hallway.

That didn't keep them from being anymore cautious though. With their nerves shaking and their hearts beating rapidly, they both slowly got off from the structures that had supported both their weights, gently and easily taking careful steps around each of the traps. Even if they did all go off, they didn't want to chance of accidentally stepping in one that hadn't yet, nor somehow re-spring the ones caught in each others jaw.

Finally reaching the doorway of the lunchroom, the two jumped out for all glory, glad to have finally be ridden of the trap-filled lunchroom. They had little time to celebrate though upon discovering the rest of the traps that had filled the hallways, and possibly the whole building.

"S-Sorry guys..." Naegi apologized quietly for setting off the first trap.

"Huff, don't sweat it, chick." Owada told her. "At least we got a way out of there now." He said, looking back to Yamada who was currently kissing the floor.

"Mwah, mwah, mwah!" He smooched. "I never thought I'd see the day when I missed a floor so much!"

"Is everything ok?" Kirigiri asked, having finally finished disarming the traps on the right side of the school.

"Yeah, we're fine." Owada replied. "We just got out of the freaking golf course of bear traps though, and bro is still missing."

"Bear traps?" Kirigiri raised her brow, rubbing her chin.

"Yes! Bear traps, just like the ones we talked about last night!" Yamada said. Owada let out a small gasp as he quickly turned back towards Yamada.

"Holy shit dude, you're right!" Owada yelled suddenly realizing.

"Like you guys talked about?" Ikusaba grew suspicious.

"Well, yeah, it's sorta a long story." Owada rubbed his head a bit nervous. He couldn't tell how the others would take it.

"Hey Yams! Wada! You guys ok?" Hagakure greeted, rushing over with Oogami and Asahina.

"Where the hell were you?" Owada asked.

"I was stuck in the halls for the past hour till 'Hina came and saved me." Hagakure replied.

"There's traps all over the place!" Asahina said. "It's like they just suddenly appeared over night or something."

"How the heck could they set this all up in one night?" Yamada asked confused. "It would've taken near hours perfecting even one of these rooms! You'd have to be a total genius to pull this off."

"Well I got my alibi! Hahaha!" Hagakure joked crossing his arms.

*whack*

"OW!" He yelped, rubbing the sore spot where Asahina hit his head.

"This isn't a joke you moron!" She yelled. "Someone could get killed from all of this."

"Wait, what kind of traps did you guys run into?" Naegi asked curiously. Hagakure pointed back towards the hallway he and Asahina came out of.

"The freakin' hallways filled with sharp-edged barricades, man!" He answered. "I nearly got impaled on one if 'Hina didn't save me."

"They stretched out through the corner of the hallway, all the way around!" Asahina added.

"What disturbs me greatly, is how they constructed said traps even around me." Oogami huffed, feeling slightly disgraceful.

"Sakura, you fell asleep while on duty?" Asahina asked with a slight frown.

"Forgive me, it does shame me greatly." Oogami apologized. "Last night, I was overcame with a sudden drowsiness. I couldn't stay awake."

"Yeah dude, the same thing happened with us." Hagakure said rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"You guys too?" Ikusaba found this strange.

"You think it had something to do with the drinks last night?" Kirigiri wondered.

"Yeah, dude! It had to!" Hagakure was sure. "There's no way someone could make a drink like that without poisoning it dude!"

"It wasn't poison ya dumbass," Owada yelled, "if it was, we would all be dead."

"Oh yeah."

"Guys, focus!" Ikusaba clapped her friends, grabbing their attention. "First things first, what did you guys do last night?"

"What did we do?" Owada asked crossing his arms.

"You said whatever you talked about last night, it had something to do with these traps." She reminded.

"Oh...right." Owada scratched the back of his head slightly embarrassed. "Well... it wasn't technically anything bad, per se, but-"

"We were discussing how to pull off the perfect murder!" Yamada said proudly. "Which, by the way, I'll have you know I won.

"You what?!" Asahina shouted.

"Ack! No wait, it's not like that! It was just for fun!" He quickly said. "We weren't planning on doing any of them actually, just trying to kill time and all."

"The fact you say this was just for fun really irritates me." Oogami said, squeezing her fist.

"Huff, look, we're sorry, ok?" Owada apologized with hands at his side. "We were just goofin' around and all, we didn't actually mean any of it."

"Well next time, make sure the killer knows that!" A voice from behind everyone groaned. Looking back, they were all surprised at the sight of Celes walking towards them. Upon closer inspection, they notice a slight rope print imprinted on Celes's neck. The fact it was still noticeable and she was still rubbing it made it fairly obvious that it was only recent.

"Celes!" Ikusaba, Naegi, and Asahina said simultaneously, running over to their friend.

"Are you ok?" Naegi asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she replied, her voice slightly weak, "I just love playing realistic hangman in the morning."

"You got hanged?!" Asahina said in shock.

"Yes, where I would've remained if not for this." She referred to the metal claw-like ring over her right pointer finger. The sharp edges around the tip of it were just barely sharp enough to saw through rope, added someone pushed against it hard enough for the rope to snap. "It's not exactly the best wake-up call I've ever been greeted to."

"Wait, when exactly did you get hanged?" Kirigiri asked rubbing her chin.

"Just recently, why?"

"That... shouldn't have happened." Kirigiri muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"Hey, Kirigiri's right!" Ikusaba started. "She went through the entire hallway and disarmed the traps on the right half."

"Well, apparently she missed the ones on the second floor." Celes stated, much to everyone's surprise.

"There's traps on the second floor too?!" Yamada shouted in disbelief.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" Owada shouted. He turned his attention back to Celes with a questionable look on his face. "Wait a minute, why were you on the second floor?"

"Because I thought I heard someone scream." Celes replied calmly with a smile. She started rubbing her chin. "I can't quite tell for sure, but at the time, I'm pretty sure the voice belonged to Ishima-"

"Bro?!" Owada shouted worriedly. "Bro!" Owada began bolting down the hallway towards the stairs.

"Owada, wait!" Asahina yelled worriedly.

"Am I missing something here?" Celes asked.

"We'll fill you in later." Oogami assured. "For the time being, I believe it's best if we disarmed all the traps we can find."

"Sakura's right!" Asahina agreed. "We can't do anything until we can walk around without having to worry about where we step."

"Huff," Kirigiri sighed, "I suppose we don't have any choice in the matter then." She turned back towards the group. "For now, we need to split up into groups of two people at a time. Asahina, Naegi, you two take the left half of the second floor near the pool area." She ordered.

Naegi and Asahina smiled to each other with a nod, much to Ikusaba's unease. "W-Wait, any chance I could-" She tried speaking up.

"Ikusaba," Kirigiri interrupted with slight emphasis, "and Celes, you two take care of the whole of the Third floor." She told them. "Ikusaba, you have combat experience and seem to know a lot about different kinds of traps. That's why I'm placing you in charge the entire Third floor."

_Third?!_ Ikusaba groaned mentally. She knew Kirigiri was doing this on purpose to keep her away from Naegi, but she couldn't bring herself to argue at the time either. With traps laid all across the school, she couldn't stand the thought of Naegi possibly dying as a result of one.

"Yamada, Oogami, you take care of the right half of the second floor, around the library." Kirigiri continued. Oogami gave a nod of understanding while Yamada gave a honorable salute. "As for you Hagakure, I need you to find Owada."

"By myself?!" Hagakure panicked. Kirigiri gave him a small smile.

"I'm not too worried about your or Yamada exploring the floors. If the traps around here are based on the "jokes" you guys were talking about last night, you should have an idea about all the traps and how to avoid them." She commented.

"What about you Kirigiri?" Naegi asked curiously.

"I'm going to go look for Fukawa." She replied. "She probably doesn't know about anything going on at the time." She tapped her chin in thought. "There's also... something I need to clarify too." She said. "Everyone be sure to take a knife or something sharp. From what I've seen, most of these traps are triggered by a wiring mechanism."

"Not all of them." Hagakure corrected. "Ones like the hallway I was in were filled with barricades that could impale ya."

"And the lunchroom we came out of just now was filled with bear traps!" Yamada added with worry.

"Regardless, most of these traps are only triggered from a wire." Kirigiri's mind wasn't changed. "If you find anything else that's triggered by pressure or a weight, just toss something into it." She suggested. "Now again, any questions?"

"..Ehhh, I only got one dude..." Hagakure commented, blushing slightly as he scratched his cheek.

"What is it?"

"...How long are you girls gonna be running around in your underwear?" He asked.

At this point, Ikusaba, Asahina, and Kirigiri were struck with a wave of embarrassment as they suddenly looked down. Ever since they woke up, they forgot the fact they were still dressed in their "sleep over pajamas", which only consisted of their night shirts and panties at the time. Naegi was the only one to feel slightly relieved, seeing how she was still wearing her pink pajamas with a top shirt and pants. That didn't help with the other three girls, though.

"It's ok! It'll definitely keep the guys energized!" Hagakure joked.

*TRIPLE-WHAP!*

"OW!"

..

...

...

And so, after spending several minutes getting showered quickly and dressed, everyone had spread out across the school to their assigned floors. No one could believe all the traps someone had managed to set up, even in the time everyone was asleep last night.

At least this time, everyone was prepared with knifes they've brought with them. There wasn't too much worry about someone trying to murder one another with a knife either- Kirigiri took the opportunity to mark each knife with a different colored handles in order to keep track of which knife belonged to each person. On top of that, with everyone only in groups of two, there was less likely of a chance that someone would try to commit murder while expecting to get away with it.

First came around Naegi's and Asahina's half of the second floor. Majority of their traps had consisted of numerous noose-like contraptions once again when it came to the hallway, some of which they almost fell for again. Much to their surprise, which became everyone's dilemma after, even the pool's locker rooms were rigged with traps.

After tripping over one of the tripwires hidden between two of the locker rooms, Asahina jumped at the sight of all the lockers opening up simultaneously. If not for Naegi's timely intervention and ducking them out of the way in time, they both would've been impaled on the numerous sharp spears that shot forth out of them. At least they were assured now that even the rooms were rigged with traps.

Yamada and Oogami didn't seem to have as much trouble, though they still encountered their fair share of traps. One particular trap that was noted was within the Library itself. Despite being overly cautious, with Yamada's massive size as it is, even crawling around the ground did nothing as he examined around the book shelves.

Crawling over to the middle section of shelves, he was unaware of the trip wire that occurred as his head pushed into it, at least not until it was too late for him to notice. With a sudden rumble, all the bookshelves began to shake violently, numerous books falling one after another. Then, like a domino effect, even though they weren't right in front of one another, each of the book shelves began slamming towards the ground with massive force, starting with both ends simultaneously, and working their way up to the middle.

Yamada was too frightened and lost for words as he suddenly noticed the domino effect that began to play out. He was too frozen with fear to move, not that it would to much with his current size. By the time he could utter a single scream, it was already too late as the middle one, right in front of him, began collapsing to the floor onward.

It was moments like this where strength proved invaluable. Despite the massive, crushing weight of the bookshelves, they were no match against Sakura's massive strength. With even one arm alone, Sakura withheld the bookshelves, saving Yamada's life, who was currently bowing to her with respect and thankfulness. Yamada had never been so overjoyed in all his life to have a girl save him from something, especially from getting splattered all over the floor.

The third floor where Ikusaba and Celes examined were no strangers to the numerous traps that were laid about the halls and rooms. First examining the physics lab, the room at first appeared to be the safest. There wasn't a single weight or pressure sensitive trap anywhere, nor did either of them see a single tripwire.

Then again, they had yet to even turn the light switches on.

With one flick of the switch, Celes's ears perked up as she suddenly heard the strange sizzling sound emanating throughout the entire room. Before she knew it, she was pushed away by Ikusaba who tackled her out of the doorway, just as a massive explosion rocked the entire room, with flames briefly bursting through the doorway. Even if only for a few seconds, they would've been more than enough to incinerate the gothic-gambler herself.

Thus left with the hallways and a few of the other rooms. Fortunately, the hallways were only laced with numerous bear traps, which didn't prove too much of a threat for the duo as they could safely activate them from farther away. Making unique use of the numerous pop cans they had left over from the party last night, Ikusaba tossed one dead center into the rows of bear traps, then watched as the numerous traps set off like firecrackers, repeatedly going off with a never-ending snapping sound that continued playing for several seconds.

The only room left to debug was the Rec room itself. They didn't even need to go into the room to debug it. Both of them stood on each side of the door from the outside. Nodding to each other, Celes turned the doorknob slowly before pressing open the door.

They already heard a simple sound of a wire snapping by the time the door fully opened.

Both of them turned their heads away from the door as nearly a dozen pool sticks suddenly burst out, all impaling the wall on the other side of the hallway. Both girls were relatively surprised and amazed by the sharpness of said pool sticks, seeing how each and every one of them managed to easily impale the wall with ease. It would have more than been enough to turn the two into swish cheese.

With that being said, all the hallways and rooms within the school were finally debugged, and safe once more.

Thus returned us back to the Locker Rooms outside the pool, where Asahina and Naegi were resting on the benches.

"Huff, I think that's the last of them." Asahina noted. Naegi nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I think so too." She replied. "You think Kirigiri and Hagakure found Fukawa and Owada yet?"

"She must have." Asahina shrugged her shoulders. "If he wasn't alive at this point, there would've been a Monokuma announcement saying something."

"That's good to know." Naegi briefly said with a smile before frowning once more. "Still, what the heck is going on around here? I mean, no one should have been able to pull all of this off."

"What do you mean?" Asahina asked curiously.

"Well, just think about it for a second. Even if we were all asleep except for the person who did all this, they shouldn't have been able to set all this up on their own."

Asahina rubbed her chin looking down in thought. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like they had more time for this than we even expected."

"Do you think they've been working on this since before last night?" Naegi wondered. "I mean, except for after the morning meeting a few days ago, no one else has really been to the second and third floor as of late. Or have they?"

"Oogami and I explored the third floor once more after the morning meeting, and we saw Celes exploring around up here too. But that was around the evening of the night before yesterday, so she shouldn't have had time to set these up either."

"Could she have had help?"

"Nah, even if she did, these traps are too complicated to be put together in one night, especially on three full floors."

"Oh yeah..."

Asahina turned towards her again. "And when you think about it, the boys said these traps resembled the same ones they talked about just last night, so it had to be someone who was at the boy's party night."

"Huh...I guess so..." Naegi's brows lowered as she began rubbing her chin, going deeper into thought. Asahina couldn't help but blink, tilting her head as she watched this.

"Something wrong, Naegi?"

"Mmh...I...I don't know exactly." Naegi replied. 'It's just that...something feels a little off about all this." She said.

"Off?"

"W-Well... yeah." She looked back to Asahina. "I mean, doesn't the day just feel... weird to you?"

Asahina couldn't help but tap her chin, staring up in thought. "Well, now that you mention it, something has felt a bit off to me, but-"

"Naegs, 'Hina!" Hagakure suddenly shouted, appearing in the doorway and out of breath.

"What's wrong Hagakure?" Asahina asked.

"Either of you girls seen Ish, yet?" He asked. Both girls shook their heads..

"Didn't Owada find him yet?" Naegi asked confused.

"No man, we can't find him anywhere! Wada's cursing up a fricken storm too." He replied, scratching his head. "I don't blame him either though, I mean no one's seen him all day."

"Say Hagakure, that reminds me of something." Asahina suddenly remembered. "You said you got up an hour earlier to go to the bathroom this morning, right?"

"No worries dude, I took care of my business." He stated with a cheeky grin.

"Not that ya moron!" Asahina yelled back. "I mean when you woke up earlier, was Ishimaru still in the lunch room?"

"Huh?" Hagakure's eyes widened slightly as he rubbed his chin. "Well, now that you mention it, I really don't know if he was... why?"

"That's weird..." Asahina mumbled. "You don't suppose he set up all these traps, do you?"

"Who, Ish?" Hagakure asked surprise. "I doubt it dude. Knowing him, if he did set up these traps, he'd never get passed the first floor with all the traps."

Asahina lowered her brow. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean with the way all the traps are organized." He replied casually looking back down the halls. "If you girls didn't notice, all the traps are still kind of misaligned. They aren't perfectly in order or centered and all. Knowing Ish, he'd waste his time trying to line up all the traps perfectly."

"...Yeah, that does sound like him." Naegi commented scratching her head.

"I know right? He couldn't be the killer then." Hagakure replied.

"Killer?" Naegi repeated confused.

"Well yeah dude." Hagakure scratched his head again. "I mean someone who set the traps up like this obviously didn't want the person to live, did they? That's like giving someone a poison and calling it an antidote." He asked.

"Oh, right."

"Anyway dudes, we need to head back down. Kirigiri wanted to speak with everyone in the entrance hall." He announced.

"Alright," Asahina nodded before turning to Naegi, "let's go Naegi. We finished this room anyway."

"Right." She agreed with a nod. And like that, the three of them left.

*clatter*

"Huh?" Naegi mumbled looking back at the locker rooms once again.

She could've sworn she heard a strange rattling noise before she left. Looking back down the hallway, she already saw the two heading towards the stairs, apparently having just missed the same noise which distracted her. Part of her wanted to leave as well, but there was something about the noise that really bothered her.

Thinking about it for a moment, and knowing she had a knife for protection anyway, she calmly shook her head, deciding to head back towards the locker room for a quick peek.

Looking around, she noticed that the room looked pretty much the same. All the lockers were still open, most of the spears which were set off earlier were still stuck in each other's locker, it was all fine. The only thing which stood out to her was the doorway to the pool.

She could've sworn it was completely closed when she last checked it, yet it stood there, partially opened. Even if she had just missed a minor detail with the door being partly opened, she couldn't help but feel another mix of unease, and not one being caused by the draft that came from the pool room.

Quickly walking her way over towards the door, she took the precautions she was warned about taking beforehand by Ikusaba. First, she pushed the door open quickly, turning herself away from the door for a few seconds to see if anything would happen.

It was quiet.

Then, after poking her head through the door again, she slowly kneeled towards the floor, stretching her hand out first, and then stretching it out with the knife in hand, seeing if she could feel any wires or string. Once again, she sighed in relief.

_Guess it's safe. _She assumed, stepping inside the room. She took a look around the pool room. Nothing seemed to be different to her. The bleachers were all pushed in like they were left, the diving board and floors seemed to be clean and clear of blood, and everything else was in perfect order too.

"Hm?" She raised her brow, looking closer.

That's when she noticed the strange swirl of bubbles she saw emanating from the pool itself. It was strange to her. She had only ever been to the pool once, after Asahina nearly dragged her all the way to join her, and she was sure it shouldn't be doing something like that.

"What's going on?" She mumbled to herself, peering over the pool.

That was her first and final mistake she would ever make alive.

She didn't even feel it coming until it was already around her. In one swift motion, she suddenly found a single rope bound tightly against her arms, keeping them pinned to her sides. She didn't even have the time to let out so much as a scream as she was suddenly hoisted into the air, her feet unconsciously kicking around to find ground.

Before she even saw it, she heard something splash into the pool, connected by a verily lengthy rope. Trailing the rope with her eyes, she suddenly realized it stretched all the way towards the ceiling, across the pool, and connected to her. Even if she couldn't see it, she could tell the knot connected to her back, which she couldn't bring to undo no matter how hard she struggled.

Then, with a simple whistling noise, she realized the rope, and whatever it was connected to, was released. And just like that, she found herself suddenly plunging straight into the pool, no longer supported by whatever weight kept her in the air to begin with.

She was panicking too much to even attempt at taking a deep breath, already lacking air as she was plunged into the depths of the pool. As much as she continued to struggle, trying to kick her legs in an attempt to resurface, it proved futile. She felt something suddenly grabbing the back of the rope she was attached to, dragging her farther and farther down into the pools until she was nearly touching the floor itself.

With all the struggling that continued, she couldn't even turn to catch a glimpse of the culprit who was dragging her to the bottom of the pool. Even with struggling using all her might, with the lack of strength from being underwater, and strength the perpetrator had over her, she couldn't break free. She then felt herself, strangely, being hooked onto something, connecting the rope into the floor.

With that being done, she saw a strange figure suddenly swimming away- all the while she remained stuck to the bottom of the pool's floor. Realizing she wasn't going to resurface, nor was the person about to help them, she began to panic once more.

"Nnggggghhhh!" She gurgled trying to scream.

She knew it was pointless, being practically ten feet underwater. But she had enough sense to realize that wherever she was, she wouldn't last more than a single minute around here, having already wasted too much of her breath when she fell in to begin with. She wasn't giving up of course, struggling, in vain, to try to possibly loosen herself from whatever hooked her to the pool floor. She only had a glimmer of hope that she might either loosen herself from the hook, or break loose from the ropes that truly pinned her to the ground.

That's when she saw it.

Ishimaru.

Himself, her friend, right next to her. There he was, his body frozen with the same expression of terror that was filling her over time. He was dead, eyes open widely with his arms stretched out, as if trying to pull himself from whatever happened to him. The sight of this only frightened her greatly for another reason:

She realized that she would come to meet the same fate as him.

**Ding dong, ding dong!**

"_**We got a corpse here! We'll be holding a Class Trial pretty soon, so make good use of the time you've got!**__" _

That only confirmed it. He was dead. And she was about to meet the same fate as him.

_I'm...I'm going to die..._ She thought to herself, already feeling herself weakening from the lack of air.

She saw the figure which trapped her down here to begin with climbing out of the pool. They didn't even stop to turn around as they quickly ran out of the pool room, or at least out of her view. They would not help her, she realized by this point.

_I'm really going to die..._ She cried in her head once more. She felt her senses going numb. Her heart raced for the last several seconds.

_I...I can't. N-Not like this._ She cried to herself.

For a brief moment, hope had returned to her. Within her sights, she saw another figure looming over the pool, staring down at her. They were her only salvation. The only ones who could save her at this point. She smiled to herself, believing she was finally saved.

But it was only a glimmer, and nothing more.

Her eyes widening as much as her strength would let her, she watched. She watched, as slowly, the figure began to walk away, just like before. It wasn't going to help her, not when she needed it most, not when it was most dire. She was on her own. And she was helpless. All because she didn't bother returning with Asahina and Hagakure.

_This...is it then._ She finally accepted. She wasn't happy with it either. But she couldn't argue against the wheels of fate. Her vision began to blacken, as the only light she could raised above the pool began to get darker and darker. All the signs were finally reaching her- the stages of death.

The only stage she could never reach was acceptance.

_She couldn't die yet! It was too soon!_ These were the same thoughts she kept shouting to herself, over and over again. But if fate had really wanted her, or the others like her to live, she knew none of her friends would have died off by this point.

She couldn't help but briefly close her eyes for a moment, losing conscious.

...

...

...

_"Well Naegs?" A voice suddenly called out to her._

_"Huh?!" She suddenly opened her eyes again, startled. She looked all around her. _

_She was back in class again._

_Again?_

_Why again?_

_She couldn't understand._

_"Hellooooooo, Earth to Naaaags!" The voice suddenly called out again, knocking on her head from behind her. She shook her head slightly before turning around. There he was, Hagakure, in his school Uniform, grinning at her and slightly leaning forward._

_"H-Hagakure?" She said in disbelief._

_"Who else dude? So how'd you do?" He asked again._

_"How... did I do?" She repeated confused._

_"'D'you fall asleep or something? How did you do on your test?" He clarified. She turned forward again, looking at the desk she was in. _

_Then, she noticed herself. There she was, in a female school uniform with a white buttoned-long-sleeve and blue skirt, sitting in the classroom. It wasn't like the sick twisted, murderous, school she once knew. It...was an actual school! It had a serenity, and feeling of peace. Sun shined through the windows, clouds barely covered the sky. It was all just peaceful._

_A classroom? Even that was confusing to her. _

_But it was all there, plain as day. Could she have been the one dreaming all this time? She turned her attention to the piece of paper on her desk. She eyed it curiously as she read the score in red marker at the top._

_"91%, -A..." She read aloud. _

_*whap*_

_She jerked slightly as she felt Hagakure playfully patting her back. _

_"See Naegs, told ya you would pass!" He said excitedly. "Never question my predictions again!"_

_"Haha," she faced forward again suddenly hearing the sound of Owada laughing, seated one desk in front of her, and another to the left, "I told ya those three night-time cram sessions would pay off!" He congratulated. _

_Much to her surprise, even he was wearing part of his school uniform, though, only with a white shirt on his chest. He jumped slightly at the light slap he received on his right shoulder, coming from Asahina who sat in front of her. Even she was dressed like Naegi, glaring slightly at Owada._

_"Your idea of studying was spending ten minutes a night skimming through everything, Mr. -C!" She yelled slightly. "If I didn't help her with the afternoon studying, she probably would've flunked with your quote-on-quote help!" _

_"Oy vey, you couldn't even get a solid A?" A familiar voice spoke out to her. _

_Much to her surprise and shock, Togami was sitting a desk away from where she was, reading, though most likely studying, from another book. He slumped on his arm, not even giving direct attention to her. _

_"Consider it the last time I waste my precious hours of life helping you." He stated firmly. Even if it was a bit rude, it had a strange sense of kindness hidden with it. If it wasn't a dream now, she couldn't figure out what was going on because that did not sound anything like the Togami she knew!...At least she knew of the girl seated ahead of Togami. There was only one Fukawa in the world that could endlessly with blissful fantasy, adoring the mere sight of her "white knight"._

_She blinked a bit as she felt a gentle, slight poke on her right shoulder from behind. Turning around, she was even more surprised, and slightly shocked, seeing Fujisaki sitting on the desk to the right of her. He was still wearing girls clothing, having the same shirt and skirt as her. _

_She smiled in her mind. She wouldn't care about seeing him wearing girls clothes once more if he just came back to life._

_"C-Congratulations, N-Naegi." He said sheepishly, sitting straight in her chair. _

_"Gimme back that camera!" She jumped slightly from fright, hearing the shouting going on behind her. _

_There, three of her other friends, Yamada, Celes, and even Maizono herself, were playing around. Although, the word "playing" might be the wrong term for it. Maizono just sat there on her desk, giggling at the sight. In front of her, Celes, who was the only one in the same clothes she recognized her in, was pulling and tugging at Yamada's face, trying to grab the camera from him. Even Yamada had a large-sized uniform on. Even if he was being tugged and pulled around by Celes, he still smiled, for some reason..._

_"Nyah, nyah!" He taunted, keeping the camera just out of her reach. If it wasn't for his massive side, Celes would've been able to stretch his arms around him to grab it._

_"I said give it to me!" Celes barked again._

_"Only if I receive a kiss of payment, my princess..." He replied._

_"Not even in my nightmares, now give it!" She shouted, pulling on his face harder._

_"Hehehehe!" Maizono could only sit there and laugh the entire time. Naegi herself couldn't help but smile at the sight. Even if this was all a dream, or her life was flashing before her eyes, it still made her smile. _

_"Lemme see that!" Another voice quickly said, swiftly pulling the papers from Naegi's grasp with familiar speed._

_Naegi could only blink, looking at her empty hands she was still holding up, before looking to her right, in front of Chihiro. There, her newest and most recent friend, Mukuro Ikusaba, sat, looking at the papers with a sly grin._

_"Well, well, well, looks like a certain little missy miss just passed her test as well." She said in a joking tone, teasingly dangling the papers in front of Naegi to grab. _

_At the time, Naegi couldn't help but notice Junko, who was sitting in the desk in front of Ikusaba. She couldn't get a good look at her, her body looking straight ahead at the book she was reading. But it was still nice to at least notice her._

_Speaking of which, Naegi couldn't help but watch as Oogami suddenly passed right in front of her. Watching, she stared with a curious look, watching as Oogami single handedly lifted Yamada from the back of his shirt, several feet off the air. It only took the gesture of her opening her hand in front of him for him to get the idea. With a sigh of defeat, he surrendered the camera, at which point she casually dropped Yamada to the ground._

_"Ouch!" He yelped, his fall shaking the whole room slightly. That action alone was enough to get Ishimaru riled up, jumping from his desk, located behind Togami's, and start ranting about horseplay in a school environment. At the same time, Leon Kuwata, in the flesh, couldn't help but roll his eyes as he began moving his hand to look like he was talking. He started copying Ishimaru's mouth movements, mimicking him and mocking him as he was yelling the rules to Celes and Oogami._

_Or something along the lines._

_"Wha- Hey!" Ikusaba yelled again. Naegi turned her attention back towards the front once more. This time, between Asahina's and Ikusaba's desks in front of her, she saw Kirigiri in her own school uniform, holding Naegi's papers which she snatched from Ikusaba's hands._

_"These belong to Naegi." She firmly stated, calmly handing the papers back to Naegi. _

_"Oh come on, I know that! I was just teasin'!" Ikusaba whined. She crossed her arms with a puff of her cheeks. Naegi couldn't help but chuckle even to herself. _

_"By the way, congratulations again, Naegi." Kirigiri said with a smile. To Naegi's fascination, Kirigiri was apparently seated right next to her in the empty desk on the left. "I hope all that studying paid off." Naegi looked back to the papers in her hand._

_Naegi was at a cross here. She knew what was going on. Those final moments before one's death where her memory was showing her either her happiest moments, or just some dream to deal with the reality of her death. It was just too happy of a moment for her. For her to accept this willingly, she would accept her own death. If she did, something told her she could be happy in the afterlife, for all eternity._

_With this realization, she couldn't help as a tear rolled down her face, landing on the piece of paper in front of her. It was too much._

_"It... It didn't." She muttered. Kirigiri couldn't help but grow curious at the statement._

_"Huh?" She asked. Naegi could only look at her with a tear-filled smile. At the same time, the world around her began to misshape and rearrange. Her vision returning to that of the inside of the pool, slowly. _

_"It... It didn't. Cause it doesn't matter." She cried. Even as her "dream" began to fade away, Kirigiri couldn't help but look confused._

_"What doesn't matter?" She asked. _

_"Any of this." Naegi replied simply. By the time she said this, her vision once more returned to the pool once more. It was the same as when she left it. There she was, trapped at the bottom of the pool bed, with no hope or chance of escaping. No one was going to help her. The mysterious figures she did know that saw her, simply didn't care. They didn't come back for her. No one came to look for her again. She was just like this, and would be for as long as she was aware of all sense of feeling._

Even if reality returned to her, her mind slowly began to slip away with her consciousness. And her despair rising, for the many broken promises she was about to make.

_Because there are those who aren't with us anymore. _She said in her mind, watching as the last of her air bubbles were expunged from her lungs. If she could feel pain at this point, she would've screamed in agony as her lungs were suddenly filling with water, suffocating her as the water poured into her throat, outside of her own control. Her whole body was beginning to lose all sense of feeling, only left with the feeling of weight as she tried to cling on to her last few moments of life.

_Because they aren't here... I can't accept my death... Not until... I learn what's going on... Her mind began to flash again back to other memories. Memories of all the times she had with her friends upon first awakening within this hell of a school. She didn't care what they consisted of. _

_Good times, bad times, it was pointless. She wanted to see those memories flash about in front of her one more time before her final moments. She cared not how hard people were on her, she cherished every aspect of kindness and decency she found within every single person around her. _

_She didn't care about the times she was only used. She could accept Maizono's betrayal. She could accept Fujisaki's apology with all her heart, and n one would tell her not to otherwise. It was all she had left to keep her going against this twisted fate, even for a few more seconds of life._

If one could cry underwater, she would've watched her tears float upwards. With the last of her vision fading, she slowly closed her eyes. It was pointless by this time, but she had to face facts. She was dying, without ever knowing what happened around here.

Without ever knowing about the secrets of this Murderous School. If one's will could keep her alive, it would have. But in reality, it doesn't. There would be no more chances, no more second tries, and no more time to solve the cases around here. She was just a burden to herself and to the others.

And she couldn't even save herself most of all.

That didn't matter to her though. The only thing that brought sadness to her, was knowing, she wouldn't be able to learn the mysteries around here, and avenge her friends. She would end up breaking every promise she made to those who've passed on.

Just like herself.

_Everyone...I'm sorry..._ Were the last thoughts she told to herself. She couldn't even bring her eyes to close all the way as her vision finally went black.

There she was.

_Dying..._

_Dying..._

_Dying..._

_..._

_..._

_Dead._

The End!

A/N: Betcha never saw this stuff coming, huh folks ^^? I especially bet ya didn't expect her to survive her first near-death experience in the beginning, just for her to die at the end anyway :P!

Whoever would've expected the main char to die, right? *sigh* Sucks, yeah. The story will go on, just now without Naegi. Really hoping I nailed down in making her death scene sad and all. Bonus points for anyone with tears from reading this!

Now for the interesting twist in seeing how the rest of the story plays out with Naegi being dead!

On another note, shoutout to Explosive Kingdom, for being my 20th reviewer ^^! Congratz explosive! As per reward, you are entitled to a bonus scene, episode, scenario, whatever you'd like to call it, of your choice ^^! They can be absolutely anything from within this story, whether it be a character interaction between Naegi or someone else, or even a bit of fanservicing (you'll need to describe/tell me what you want it to be about though) of your choice ^^. Any and all scenes will be completely off the record, so no need to worry about plausibility, or messing up the story line. They can be of anything, at any given time of the fanfic.

And with that, hope ya all enjoyed this!


	12. ReBirth and Ikusaba's confession

A/N:...enjoy!

...

...

...

...

..-ump...

...

...

k...mp...

...

ka..ump...

...thump...

...

...

...ka-thump...

"-up..."

*ka-thump*

"..lease wa...-ph"

...

*Ka-thump*

"Damn...ake up..."

*Ka-Thump*

"...'ont die...mmphh..."

*KA-THUMP*

"Please don't...up...hooomphhh..."

*KA-THUMP*

"Please-!"

"Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuurgackkkeeetth!" Naegi suddenly coughed out a near gallon of water as her senses suddenly came rushing at her all at once. Her vision was dark, her nerves were shot.

But she was alive.

"Ackuurrgghhh...!" Naegi's chest shout out as the water nearly rushed straight out of her mouth.

Most of it rushing out her mouth from her throat, some of it felt like it was rushing out her nose even. If she could feel anything, she would feel slightly disgusted feeling the water splash right back onto her. But the only feeling she cared about at this point, was the feeling of life.

Even if she couldn't tell what was happening or where she was, she was alive.

"OH FUCKING GOD THANK YOU!" A voice shouted out, suddenly squeezing Naegi in an embracing hug. Naegi continued to cough, not caring in the least about the blackish environment that surrounded her. It wasn't truly back, mind you. But with her senses slowly returning, it would take time for her to fully recover.

She couldn't even feel as another person hugged her from behind, both embracing their friend who they thought they'd never see again.

"Oh my god... I can't believe you're still alive..." The voice from behind her sniffled with joy.

It would definitely take some time for Naegi's senses to return to her. She couldn't even feel the embrace that currently surrounded her, only a slight pressure. To what she couldn't see, she was back above the surface once more, where the water wouldn't suffocate her, and the air was plenty. The only place she could be found alive at this point. Surrounding her, two of her closest friends, Asahina, and Ikusaba, hugging their friend aplenty, with tears flowing from their face and some snot dribbling from Ikusaba's nostrils.

Least she wiped herself before hugging Naegi.

Even then, the room was not without other students. Off to the side near the bleachers, Owada had his head slumped against it, turning his head to see the miraculous recovery. Off to the front of said pool, closer to where Naegi, Asahina, and Ikusaba were by the door, Kirigiri stood there. Although she did what she could to hold it in, nothing could stop the few droplets of tears that rolled from her face, even if she tried covering her expression with her hand.

As for the rest, they awaited within the locker room. They needed to give Naegi and co. their space. And above that, there was fear of whoever did this to her, might try to finish the job later. It wasn't likely, given how they would be surrounded by the numerous classmates around them, but the girls didn't want to take any chances.

"Thhhhhhh..." Naegi could barely utter a single word, yet the sound coming from her lips were more than audible for the two girls to hear. Her eyes were slightly hallowed, and her expression was truly blank. She looked as if she was stuck in a frozen state between one waking up, and one yawning.

"N-Naegi...You're alive, you know..." Asahina said in between her cries, which now consisted of joy.

"D-Don't..." Ikusaba paused briefly for a sniffle. "D-Don't y-you...ever s-scare me like that again..." She begged. The only tears that came from the faces of the two were those happiness and joy.

Slowly, shapes began to come into focus for the recently deceased girl. It was still blurry like a fog, but she could make out some key pieces of the person's appearance, such as their black hair and her voice.

"Iiiii...Ikuuuu..."Naegi weakly muttered.

"Shhhhh, it's alright, I'm here." She murmured softly. She turned her face towards her friend once more. "You're going to be okay from here on out, you hear?" She promised.

"Hhhhhhh...he...heee..." Naegi's voice groaned as he tried to usher a single word.

"T-That's right, you're here with us." Asahina said with a tearful smile. "Welcome back!" She said with great relief.

"B...baa...ck..." Even if she could phrase a single word once more, it was still barely audible. It didn't matter to her two friends, however. Their hearts were connected with each other's. They knew what she was trying to say.

"Y-Yes, yes!" Ikusaba said with cheer. "You're alive! Like you should be!" She embraced her once more in a tight hug again.

"A...liiiiiiii..." Naegi's eyes started to feel heavy once more. "Lii...iivvvv..." Ikusaba started to sense Naegi's sudden drowsiness, shifting her eyes over to her quickly.

"Naegi?" Although she couldn't tell, her eyes widened with worry. "Naegi!"

Naegi could've sworn she heard her scream some more, but she couldn't tell. Her senses were feeling numb once more, being overcome with a drowse and tiredness once more. Everything started going dark to her once more. Before she faded into unconsciousness entirely, she heard one last scream.

"NAEGI!"

...

...

...

"Nae.." a voice spoke out once more. Once again, Naegi could feel herself returning to life.

"Naegi." The voice called out again. This time her senses started returning to her at a faster rate. Slowly, she managed to open her eyes halfway, her vision coming back faster and better than it once had.

Curiously, this time she found herself lying on a bed, white sheets covered over her from her chest down. As her senses began to clear up, she finally realized that she was lying within the Nurse's office of the school. And on both sides, she found her friends smiling at her, awaiting her to wake up.

Ikusaba sat on a chair to her left, Asahina was kneeling slightly on her right, right next to her bedside, and Kirigiri was standing behind her, with a warm smile on her face.

"Welcome back, sleepy head!" Asahina laughed.

Even though Naegi's senses returned to her, she still had a feeling of numbness throughout her body. It was returning, just slowly.

"G...Girls?" She muttered. She shifted her eyes around the room curiously. "Where...Where's the oth-ecckhurgh!" Naegi suddenly coughed up once again. Her lungs didn't seem entirely out of water yet.

"It's ok, just relax." Ikusaba told her.

"Not many people around here manage to come back from the dead around here." Kirigiri said with a small smile. Naegi smiled slightly as she sat closer to her on the bed, where Naegi's right hand was, holding it gently. It felt good to be comforted once more- namely by anyone after experiencing one's death.

"Y-Yeah...I guess my Good Luck title isn't just show after all." Naegi joked quietly.

"Anyway, to answer your other question, the others are waiting outside the door. We really don't want to take chances again."

"Ch...chances?" Naegi asked. "What...Chances of what?"

Ikusaba, Kirigiri, and Asahina looked at each other with unease. It was a troubling look on their faces, one which filled Naegi with uncertainty.

"W-What's...What's wrong?" Naegi asked again. The girls continued to remain silent for a few more seconds, then turned back.

"Umm... Naegi?" Asahina spoke up.

"W-What...?"

"...How...How much do you remember?" Asahina asked.

"Re...member?" Naegi mumbled. Asahina turned her attention back towards Kirigiri.

"Should we just be straight with her?" Asahina asked her.

"W-What are you...talking about?" Naegi asked. Kirigiri sighed mentally.

"Naegi, I... I need to ask you a simple question." Kirigiri said quietly but firm. "Who... Who killed you?" If Naegi had the energy, she would've looked surprise.

"K-Kill me?" Naegi stuttered. Kirigiri tensed her fingers slightly. She knew this wouldn't be easy to talk about, but they didn't have a choice. Aside from being the easiest solution, it would prove invaluable information for the trial.

"Naegi... Someone actually killed you. We need to know who." Kirigiri said again. Ikusaba grumbled slightly glaring at Kirigiri.

"Hey, give the girl a break, will ya!" Ikusaba yelled. "She's just been through a lot, let her rest!" Kirigiri grumbled in return.

"I'm just trying to find the guy who did this so it won't happen again!" She yelled back.

"Both of you SHUT UP!" Asahina shouted angrily, ACTUALLY causing the two to jump from fright. They both couldn't help the notice the tears welling up in her eyes. "We have an hour before the trial, and the last thing either of you should be doing is arguing in front of her! She's already been through a lot!"

The two couldn't help but turn away for numerous reasons, one of which was shame. They both had feelings about them, but for the most part, Asahina was right, and she was the only one being sensible among the three. Naegi's been through the most out of anyone throughout this school so far; She's had trauma which nearly ruined her, been betrayed by two of her friends she both held dearly, and above all, she's went through two attempted murders, one of which actually WORKED!

And the fact she could even lie there and be alive to hear about how she was killed...that was really saying something.

"We're sorry..." The both apologized simultaneously. Naegi still did her best to give a weak smile.

"That's ok." Naegi replied.

"Look, if you want to talk about it now or later, you can. "Kirigiri said with a sweet smile. "We're gonna have to bring it up one way or another at the trial." Naegi frowned slightly.

"B-Bu-"

"YOU FUCKER!" Owada could be heard shouting from outside the room.

*WHAM!*

There was a loud banging sound which sounded like something being thrown against the wall. Kirigiri could only groan.

"I'd hate to see what's going on now." She moaned, looking back to Naegi with a sweet smile again. "In the meantime, get plenty of rest. Ikusaba will stay here to guard you."

Ikusaba looked at her with complete surprise. "You... You trust me?" She was lost for words. Kirigiri simply smiled as she turned her back to her.

"Of course I do. After all, you're Naegi's friend, right?" She commented. Ikusaba stared at her for a few seconds lost in thought. Out of all the people, she's surprised she would trust Ikusaba with her, especially with Kirigiri's egging suspicion about her. Still, she couldn't help but smile as she nodded.

"I won't let a single person near her till the trial starts." She assured. With a nod back to her, Kirigiri gestured to Asahina to follow along with her.

Before she did, Asahina smiled back to Naegi, noogie-ing her hair slightly with the palm of her hand, then quickly heading towards the door at the end of the room. Looking back, Kirigiri gave a small smile as well with a wave goodbye, following along behind her. Ikusaba quietly followed behind her, following her until she reached the door.

Before she left for good, Kirigiri looked back to Ikusaba. The two of them stared into each other's eyes for a moment. They knew a lot about each other, more than they would let each other know. At the same time, they both knew how one another cared deeply for Naegi. With a nod back and forth, they agreed in silence, that they would at least work together during times like this, at least for Naegi's sake.

With a smile, Kirigiri left through the door, trusting the girl behind her to guard Naegi with her life. Watching the two girls leave, Ikusaba quietly closed the door, locking it in place, and turning off the lights. Sighing in relief, she slyly turned around with a smile, calmly walking her way over to Naegi's bedside once again.

"So...Naegi..." She grinned deeper in her mind than she let on.

For the next hour, she had Naegi all to herself. She wished the circumstances were better, but she would take what she could get. Looking around, she noticed the camera looking at her. It was the perfect excuse that she needed. She shifted her eyes back briefly with a grin, then faced the camera once more.

"Ugh, that stupid camera probably has some perv who's watching us." She commented.

Naegi watched curiously as she pulled the blinds on the side of her bed, the hooks dug into the ceiling above her, and observed as Ikusaba pulled the blinds until they covered all around her bed. With a bit of privacy to themselves, even though the headmaster could actually hear them thanks to Ikusaba's transmitter, Ikusaba sighed in relief once more, smiling as she pulled the chair closer to Naegi.

"So..." Ikusaba twirled her hair slightly embarrassed. "I'm a bit nervous to ask you, but...I don't suppose you'd...Are you feeling a bit-"

"Heh heh." Naegi was already chuckling quietly, getting the idea. "It's ok, I'd love a cup of water right now." Ikusaba returned a sincere smile to her, walking out of the blinds, and Naegi's view for a few seconds, and heading over to the sink.

It ended up being a bit easier to ask her for water than she thought it would. She chuckled to herself quietly, filling a small plastic cup with cold water, then returning to Naegi's bedside.

"Here." She said quietly, handing the water over to Naegi. Fortunately by this time, Naegi had enough feeling back in her body to lean up in bed and lift her arms, if only a little bit. "Drink it slowly, just in case." She added.

Naegi nodded as she slowly drank the water. It was almost funny to her how different it felt when she was drinking it willingly, not being forced into the back of her throat and into her lungs. In addition, there was a bit more relief and pleasure drinking it when it wasn't filled with chlorine. It wasn't too long until Naegi chugged down the rest of the water. After all, the glass was only a few inches long and wide. She sighed happily, having her throat cleared out a little more of the disgusting chlorine.

"That was refreshing." Naegi said. Ikusaba smiled as she took the cup and placed it on the small counter at the edge near Naegi.

"Bet it tasted better, huh?" Ikusaba joked.

"Hehe..." Naegi chuckled.

...

...

...

Ikusaba looked around a bit, trying to find a way to start a conversation once again. She always wanted to have a moment with Naegi all to herself, and now that she finally did...she didn't know what to do. I mean, she knew _what_ she wanted to do, she knew a lot of things she wanted to do. All with Naegi. Just the two of them. But she knew she needed time to warm up to her. She's only been with Naegi for about 3 days now, and two of said nights, she was busy.

The first dealt with breaking her out of her trauma. it pained her slightly to force herself to do such a thing, but at the same time, it was, literally, for Naegi's own good. By the time she did, she was passed out and exhausted in the bathroom. An interesting location for the two of them, just not how she pictured themselves.

And the second-most recent night, was the girl's slumber party. Much to her excitement, she sort of managed to convince Naegi into wearing the somewhat transparent nightie she managed to find for her. She found herself partly excited by the sight, a somewhat exposed Naegi in nothing but her undergarments, but like before, it wasn't meant to last, in part thanks to the boys literally dropping in on her. It was sort of cute how Naegi screamed, and she did sort of enjoy the sight of her crying (for despair-related reasons), but she was still annoyed with the fact that she went back to her old PJs after.

So, now after long last, she had a moment to herself with Naegi. "So...um..." She needed to think of just about anything to talk about. Naegi just kept staring at her curiously, wondering what she wanted. "Oh!" Ikusaba's eyes lit up as she dug through her pockets, pulling out her e-Handbook. "Did you see the Monokuma report on yourself?" Naegi looked at her slightly surprised.

"I have a report on myself?" She asked, trying to dig through her pockets, only to find herself in her PJs once more. "Umm...where's-" Ikusaba immediately knew what she was about to ask.

"Oh, sorry!" She apologized scratching her head. "The girls and I thought you might catch a cold since your clothes were soaking wet. Don't worry, we were the only ones who changed your clothes." She added.

Naegi watched as she suddenly began climbing onto the bed, scooting up until she was right by Naegi's side. She felt as Ikusaba lifted her up slightly, leaning her back so she was leaning against Ikusaba's chest. With her right arm around Naegi's side and under her arm, she looked ahead again as Ikusaba brought the e-Handbook in front of her.

"See, look here." Ikusaba told her as she skimmed through the programs. She brought up the evidence file, showing her a second Monokuma File Report that was listed. Much to her surprise, it was about her. "Viola! Makoto Naegi, deceased."

"D-De-Deceased?!" Naegi nearly jumped.

"Relax, relax, ya goofball." Ikusaba calmed down, rubbing Naegi's right arm. "I promise you're absolutely alive. If not, may Monokuma himself-"

"Did somebody caaaaall?" You-know-who asked, suddenly jumping on the end of Naegi's bed.

"Geeeeeh!" Ikusaba groaned rolling her eyes. "What are you doing here?" She was obviously annoyed.

"I should be asking Naegi that." Monokuma replied in a huff, walking closer to the two. Ikusaba wrapped her arm in front of Naegi, trying to keep Monokuma a little bit more away. "Oh relax, Fido, I ain't here to finish what someone else started."

"Then... What do you want?" Naegi asked in a mix of curiosity and a little bit of worry.

"Would ya relax? Sheesh! If I wanted ya dead I wouldn't have bothered with the Dead Body Announcement." He stated. Naegi tilted her head.

"Announcement?" She asked.

"Yeah, the first two times you were out like a light, so ya missed it." He mentioned. "The third time though, you heard it yourself when ya found Ishimaru."

"When I..." Naegi's pupils shrank as it suddenly came rushing back to her. Drowning in the water, her lungs filling up with water, and Ishimaru's corpse sunk right next to her. It was too much at once. "Nnggh!" She groaned, squeezing her head.

Strangely enough, it wasn't those memories that just came back to her. She remembered the dream as well when it hit her. She couldn't understand it either. Why the heck did she remember something that was just a simple dream? It was bothering her, but she couldn't understand why.

"What? You remember or what?" He questioned. Ikusaba hugged her a bit closer.

"Leave her alone, she's been through a lot." She told him.

"Yeah, cry me a river. Just don't go drowning Naegi in it." He joked. "Which reminds me, are you sure you're not dead?" He asked again. He turned around for a moment as he dug through his pockets(?), turning back with a golden pocket watch dangling from a chain on his hand. "You're getting deeeeader, your hearts coming to a complete stooooooop..." He swished the watch back and forth, trying to hypnotize the poor girl.

"Ugh, will you leave her alone?" Ikusaba groaned again, taking the pocket watch and chucking it outside the curtains.

"Whoa, hey," Monokuma yelped angrily, "you idiot that was a priceless family heirloom!" He roared.

"Oh, right, which family?" Ikusaba asked irritated with the roll of her eyes.

"I don't know, I never got the guy's name." Monokuma stated rubbing his chin.

"Look, if you're here just to pick on Naegi, then go away already!" Ikusaba yelled.

"Whoa, hey, hey, cut me some slack here." He said, swaying his arms side to side, gesturing for Ikusaba to calm down. "I'm actually a fair bear, believe it or not. I for one sympathize with Naegi, even if she did cheat out of her own murder!" He said, grumbling slightly towards the end.

"Ch...Cheat?" Naegi replied curiously.

"Oh, yeah baba! Ikusaba was smoo-smoo-smoochin' those lips of yours for five whole minutes, might I add." He had absolutely no issue with revealing this. Naegi couldn't help but blush slightly, looking back up to Ikusaba. She could only scratch her own her left cheek with an enormous blush over her face,

"I-I-It was called CPR. Why else would I do it?" Ikusaba stuttered.

"I think the better question is, why'd you use tongue-"

"**Would you just tell us why you're here!**" Ikusaba shouted angrily and embarrassed.

"Well, as I was saying, I have my own little sympathy for Naegi. It's not everyday a student survives their murder, so, from the kindness of my heart, I come BEAR-ing a gift!" He answered. Naegi blinked curiously.

"A... gift?" If it came from Monokuma, she wouldn't believe it. Even if it came wrapped up and ready for shipping.

"Yes indeedy!" He replied. "I know, I know, you might think I'm the most generous bear you've ever met-"

"I never once thought that." Naegi bluntly said. Ikusaba had to squeeze her lips together to stifle a laugh she felt coming.

"AS I WAS SAYING-!" He yelled once more. "Now, you may think I'm the most generous bear out there, but believe me when I say you've more than earned it." He turned around again as he pulled out a strange packet of paper from who knows where. "Tada! Your very own Monokuma Calendar!" He revealed, hanging it over to her.

Naegi eyed the calendar strangely. First off, it wasn't much of a calendar at all. At the top where the month was supposed to be displayed, all it said was "Month". The only accurate information it did have was the top above the days where the name of the days were labeled (i.e. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.). The days themselves weren't labeled accurately, much less ordered, at all. All of them had a single number 1 listed on each of the days, nothing more.

That's when she noticed the odd one out of the group. It was more easily noticeable due to the Monokuma printed circle around it. It was the one number located on the third week, listed between Wednesday and Friday. 3. After that, all the rest of the days were numbered as 1 once again.

"Umm...t-thanks?" Naegi thanked questionably. "I ehh...I think your calendar's slightly broken though."

"Nnnnope that is for sure, without a doubt, 100% accurate." He stated. "I can tell you for a fact, you'll need that for the trial."

"Well...thanks... I guess." Naegi said with uncertainty. It was rather strange thanking the bear that trapped them all into this school life of mutual killings.

"Nooooot a problem! I only have one presiding condition to this detail." He said.

"What's that?"

"NO MORE CHEATING!" He roared. "From now on, if a student or students have passed beyond the realm of the living, IT STAYS THAT WAY!" And with that, with a simple back flip off the bed, he disappeared.

Naegi sighed mentally. It's not everyday one can return from the afterlife, even if she didn't get to truly experience it for herself. It kind of brought up the question to her if there really was an after life, or if she just had to be dead for a bit longer to experience it or something.

_**The rules have been updated. Please refer to your e-Handbook for additional information.**_

_**The Monokuma File #2 has been updated. Please refer to your e-Handbooks for additional information.**_

Naegi watched as Ikusaba messed with her e-Handbook once more to look at the information that has been added.

_**Rule #8: If a student's life has officially ended, you are forbidden from returning that student from the land of the dead. **_

"Huh, he wasn't kidding about the rules." Ikusaba commented. Naegi looked up to her.

"What was the update on my Monokuma File Report?" Naegi asked. Ikusaba looked at her slightly concerned.

"Are you...Are you sure you want to see that?" She asked. "You might find it a bit unsettling you know."

"Y-Yeah...I'll be okay." Naegi said with a slight hesitation.

It didn't matter how brave one was, there was something disturbing about looking at one's own dead body. It gave the strange sense that you were still dead looking at your own dead body, even if you were actually alive.

Not wanting to go against Naegi's wishes, Ikusaba sighed mentally as she brought up the Monokuma File Report #2.

Naegi would never be prepared for what she saw.

There, in the top portion of the File, was her picture, exactly the same way she died too. The rope could be seen wrapped around her arms, the soulless stare she gave off when she died was present, and there was barely any air bubbles coming from her mouth. Ikusaba hugged Naegi a bit tighter as she felt her shake slightly, already knowing how she must feel. She could even hear her gulp slightly as she clung onto Ikusaba tighter.

With a small smile, she gently leaned Naegi's head closer to her chest, trying to help her relax.

"It's alright Naegi, that's not you." Ikusaba reminded.

"I... I know." Naegi replied quietly with a nod. Ikusaba continued giving a sincere smile as she scrolled down the files.

"Naegi Makoto, cause of death: Drowning. Clinically dead for 20 Minutes. "

"I was dead for twenty minutes?!" Naegi asked with a surprised look in her eye. Ikusaba shifted her eyes over, noticing Naegi slightly tearing up.

"You WERE, Naegi, just were. Everything's alright now." She pointed out, gently wiping Naegi's eyes with her right thumb. She decided to continue once she realized Naegi wasn't crying. She scrolled down to the very bottom of the files, then chuckled at the updated information. "Hahaha, look, down here," she said pointing to a certain line, "P.S: Naegi is a cheater." She joked.

"Heh heh..." Naegi chuckled a little. She did find the joke funny, but it was still a bit hard to laugh at your dead body report."...?" Naegi leaned her face a bit closer to the image of her death once more. The airing silence coming from her caught Ikusaba's attention.

"Something wrong, Naegi?" She asked. Naegi continued to remain silent, staring under her dead body in the picture.

"...Where's the hook?" She asked. Ikusaba raised her brow.

"Hook?" She repeated. Naegi looked back to her.

"The one that held me down in the pool." She said.

"...Hook? You were hooked down there?" Naegi felt a little strange about the questions she was being asked.

"Y-Yeah...Didn't you guys see it when you came to save me?"

"N-... Naegi...When we found you, you were only tied up and drowned." Ikusaba said looking back to the picture. "Ishimaru was already drowned and all, and you were down there too, but...we only found you tied with the rope, nothing else." Naegi frowned slightly.

"B-But..." Naegi turned back to her picture again. "I felt it...Something was holding me at the bottom of the pool." Ikusaba tried giving her a small smile, stroking her head softly.

"Look, it's not that big of a deal." She tried easing Naegi's feelings. "Maybe the killer just tied you to Ishimaru or something. I mean you were right next to him, you know." Naegi lowered her head.

Something felt off about this entire case to her, yet she didn't know what it was. And the more she tried to remember, she couldn't help but feel her head aching in pain. Not just from the case itself, but everything that happened when she was being murdered, including the strange dream she had.

It kept coming back to her, over and over again as she remembered the murder. All of her friends, all sitting in a classroom like a real school. It was completely different from what she was going through now. Even though she kept telling herself it was just some dream, she couldn't get her mind off it.

And Ikusaba could see this in her eyes.

"What's wrong, Naegi?" She asked. Naegi's pained expression as she looked at Ikusaba worried her deply.

"H-Hey, Ikusaba, h-have..." She couldn't tell if she should actually say anything or not. There was something weird about this that kept bothering her.

"What is it Naegi?" Ikusaba wanted to know exactly what was stuck on Naegi's mind now.

"H-Have we..." Naegi faced her once more. "Have we... met before?" She asked.

For the fist time since Ikusaba met Naegi, aside from when she thought she was dead recently, her heart skipped a beat. She already knew that her partner was already listening closely on the conversation, and would take action if they needed.

"M-M-Met?" Ikusaba stuttered with a nervous smile.

"Y-Yeah. I mean..." Naegi turned her head away in thought. "When... When I was dying before, I-I had a strange dream." She revealed. "We were all classmates. You, me, Kirigiri, Enoshima, Mai-"

"You saw Junko?" Ikusaba asked worriedly.

"W-Well...Just from behind her, I never really saw her face-to-face." She added. Ikusaba felt herself mentally rolling her eyes as she sighed quietly in relief.

"O-Oh...that's g- I mean, I g-guess it would make sense, you know." She said with a small smile. "I mean, if you never got to see anyone in person, then it had to be a dream, right?" Naegi smiled a bit lowering her head.

"H-Heh, yeah I guess." Naegi said with a nod. "I mean, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't matter. I mean it was just a dre-!" Naegi's expression brightened in realization, looking back to Ikusaba. "H-Hey, Ikusaba?"

"Yes?"

"H-How...How did you know her first name was Junko?" She wondered.

Ikusaba's mind suddenly came crashing down on herself. _Fuck!_ She cursed to herself in her head. It was over. She, as she put it, fucked up, and now she's about to suffer for it, if she was lucky. But knowing her partner, they already gad something in mind. They would end up "fixing" things themselves, and all because of her stupid mistake.

It wouldn't just be a simple memory wipe either this time. Naegi was already too close to a truth she wasn't supposed to have known about, and her partner would deem her too much of a risk to keep alive. She cared for Naegi herself, yet even she knew her partner would take things into their own hands, just to assure that Naegi wouldn't be spilling the beans to anyone else.

Or so she thought.

*Bzzzt*

Ikusaba's eyes lit up as she heard the transmitter go off. She had to pray it wasn't some kill order.

"Umm...yeah, about that..." Ikusaba muttered, pretending to scratch the right side of her head. In actuality, she was turning on her transmitter, trying to hear what her partner had to say.

_"...This is wonderful!_" They told her. If Naegi wasn't sitting right next to her, she would've shown a great sense of surprise right there and then. "_If you still want Naegi to live, I'd recommend you follow my lead_." They told her. Ikusaba listened intently on what she said next, seeming to flinch by the time the voice stopped speaking.

Then with a sigh, Ikusaba turned her head away. "Huff, ok. N-Naegi, I have something I need to tell you..." She said softly with a slight frown. Naegi couldn't help but worry slightly, feeling Ikusaba's sadness.

"W-What's wrong?" She asked.

"Well...T-The truth is...C-Can you promise me you'll keep this a secret between us?" She turned to Naegi pleadingly. Naegi could sense the seriousness of Ikusaba's request. There was no way she could say no. And so she nodded with a small smile.

"Ok... T-The truth is, I...I haven't really been honest with you or anyone," she squeezed her own hands slightly, "about who I really am." Naegi grew a little surprised.

"W-What?" Naegi was beginning to worry. She's already been through so much betrayal, and there was no way she could even think of handling a third one.

"Y-You see...The truth is... I'm looking for someone here." She stated. Naegi's expression changed from fear to curiosity, tilting her head slightly. "The truth is, I'm... I'm looking for my twin sister around here." She admitted. Naegi couldn't tell what was causing it, but she suddenly felt a warning siren going off in her head.

"Y-Your...sister?" She questioned. Ikusaba nodded.

"Yes. Her name is Junko Enoshima." She revealed.

"Huh!" Naegi gasped in a mix of horror, shock, and sorrow.

"You see, she came to this school with you guys about several weeks ago. She always keeps me in contact from time to time every few days. But..." Ikusaba clenched her fist over her heart. "Recently... I've lost contact with her. She hasn't spoken to me in over three weeks now. So I decided to sneak my way into the school in order to-

*Tch..."

Ikusaba turned around again as she heard Naegi sniffle. Much to her surprise, Naegi wasn't just understanding this with ease, she was completely broken down. Ikusaba had a feeling Naegi would simply understand what this would mean, but she didn't expect her to show such a reaction like this. She had tears welling up, pouring from her eyes and down her face.

She felt such sadness from this one, simple, lie. And Ikusaba couldn't help but feel a little touched by this.

"M-Mukuro..." Naegi stuttered with cry. She tried clenching her eyes shut, failing to stop the stream of tears.

"Naegi..." She hated feigning ignorance like this, but she had to do it. Either to ensure Naegi's survival, or at least ensure Monokuma wouldn't take things into his own hands.

"What's wro- Ooh!" Ikusaba jumped a bit startled. Naegi had suddenly buried her head into Ikusaba's chest, and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"I-I-I...I'm sorry, M-Mukuro..." She sobbed. Ikusaba bit her lip, gently embracing Naegi in her arms and patting her head.

"Naegi...W-What's wrong?"

"Y-Your sister..." Ikusaba could easily feel Naegi's pain as she spoke, "Y-Your sister...she's dead..." Naegi cried.

"O-Oh!" Ikusaba shifted her eyes away. Even if it meant putting on a fake tone, or an act, she couldn't bring herself to change her expression on her face. All she could do was shift her eyes to the right with a slight frown. Not like it would matter anyway, since Naegi's head was buried into her chest as she cried. "I-I-I see..." She muttered.

"I'm sorry!" Naegi cried again. Ikusaba gave her a soft smile.

"I-It's alright, Naegi!" She assured. "Y-You know, to be honest, we were never really that close any-"

"No, it's not! It's all my fault!" Ikusaba couldn't help but feel slightly confused.

"W-What do you mean?" Ikusaba asked. She didn't actually know what Naegi was feeling responsible, and wanted to know herself. Naegi continued to sob for several seconds, then raised her head, facing Ikusaba with teary, red, eyes.

"I-I made her a promise..." She hiccupped, trying to speak. "I-I promised her...we would get out of here...t-together..." She hiccupped, crying into Ikusaba's chest once more.

Ikusaba could only look away. She suddenly remembered full well about that promise Naegi made. Heck, she was there! She's actually a little surprised Naegi would remember something she once thought was such a small detail, and about something she herself had once forgotten. It warmed her heart slightly, that Naegi would remember something, and from someone like her.

What's more, she was fully aware from this point, that her partner was a genius. Not only did they use this information to drown Naegi into the deeper depths of despair, but now, with this, they secured their own death for future's sake. It was cunning, and cruel.

"..less..." Naegi mumbled into Ikusaba's chest.

"Hmm?" Ikusaba asked about what she said.

"I-I said...everything's hopeless..." She cried. Ikusaba's eyes lit up, but not with anticipation like she had once hoped. She should hear as her transmitter went off, once more.

_"Huuuuuuuuuuh!" The voice gasped excitedly. "Oooooh, she said it! Make her say it again, please! I neeeeed to hear it again!" The voice drooled. "Well...actually, this works out. You know what to do now..." She told her._

Ikusaba knew full well of what she meant. The one thing she's wanted to do this entire time: convert Naegi into Ultimate Despair, like the rest of them. This was her chance, when Naegi's hope had finally died down. It's what she wanted all along! With this, she could convert Naegi, spare her from the further Mutual Killings, and have her all to herself!

"H-Hopeless, huh..." Ikusaba mumbled. "Y-You know, Naegi, there's... There's a few people I know...like you, who think life is hopeless, and..." She turned back to face Naegi, looking deeply into her tear-faced eyes.

...And yet, she couldn't do it.

With a soft smile, she pulled Naegi's head closer to her chest once more, embracing her in a warm hug.

"And... people, like you, who've been through more than the average person. People that just need their rest." Ikusaba stated. The static on her transmitter went berserk.

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"WHAAAAAAAT!" The voice screamed. "Hey! What the hell do you think your-!"

*click*

Ikusaba was happy she took the time to install an off switch to her transmitter. At the same time, Naegi took a few moments to process what she said, sniffled to clear her voice, then looked back to her.

"W-What?" Naegi asked again.

"I said people like you just need time to rest." Ikusaba replied calmly. Naegi felt as Ikusaba gently lied the two of them back down onto the bed, planting their heads on the pillow. "You've been through so much since you've come here, experiencing far more than most people do in a single life time. You're just exhausted." She said softly, gently wiping the tears from Naegi's eyes.

She pulled the covers up closer over the two of them, keeping Naegi embraced in her own hug. "You're just a bit emotional right now, not that I could blame you of course." She commented. She raised her head up slightly on the pillow, resting her chin on Naegi's forehead as she closed her eyes with her. "Just get some rest for now, alright? You'll feel better when you get your energy back."

Naegi sniffled a little, but complied. "O-Ok." She sniffled. "H-Hey, Ikusaba?" She said, still keeping her eyes closed as she tried to sleep. Ikusaba opened her eyes as she glanced down.

"Yes?"

"T-Thanks..." Naegi mumbled with a small smile. Once again, Naegi never ceased to amaze her, or leave her without question.

"For what?" Ikusaba asked.

"For being a good friend." She replied. Ikusaba couldn't help but blush with a pink hue, shifting her eyes away slightly.

"Oh, um...Thanks." And with that, the two of them continued to rest, saving their energy when they would most need it later.

...

...

...

_***Meanwhile, at the exact same time...***_

Kirigiri sighed as the door closed behind her. Her ears took notice as she heard the lock of the door click into place, and watched as the lights turned off behind the blurry door window. She knew whatever would happen, Ikusaba would at least keep Naegi safe, no matter how much she distrusted her. As long as it would ensure Naegi's survival, she was willing to trust Ikusaba when it was truly necessary.

She could never bring herself to lose Naegi a second time.

"YOUR DEAD, SHIT-FOR-BRAIN!" She heard Owada suddenly scream, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Turning back, she watched as Owada suddenly threw Hagakure against the wall. Asahina quickly got in between the two in order to help stop, while at the same time, Yamada and Fukawa were both behind him, pulling on his arms to try and stop him. It wasn't working, which was obvious seeing how Owada continued to slowly push forward, streaks forming in the ground from Yamada's and Fukawa's failing efforts.

As for Hagakure...he's seen better days. Or at least looked better. Part of his shirt on the inside was torn, his hair was all raggedy, and he currently now had a swollen black left eye. If it wasn't for the fact Oogami had broken up what little of the fighting that was going on, then he'd be dead by now.

"I'm gonna kill you you fucking bitch!" Owada screamed angrily.

"I-I-I'm tellin' ya dude, it wasn't me!" Hagakure screeched in fear.

"The fuck it wasn't! You were the only one outside without an alibi, and you expect me to buy that bull about you trying to take a piss?!" Owada screamed.

"Owada, it's true!" Asahina yelled, trying to stop the fighting. "I found him outside the hallways stuck over a barricade. He would've been impaled if he slipped and he couldn't move at all!"

"Oh I'm so fucking sure!" He yelled again, sarcastically. "This asshole killed my bro! I just know it!"

Kirigiri wasn't surprised that was the root of his anger. Long ago, Owada had already lost his brother in an incident. She was never given the specifics or details of the case, but immediately following this, Owada then inherited his brother's Biker Gang.

But even he could not hide the pain the loss of his brother brought him. It was unbearable in some cases. And now, once again, he was facing that same pain, in a school where he trusted everyone.

"B-But I'm telling you man, I'm not the killer!" Hagakure shouted, almost begging.

"I don't want your lame ass lies, man!" Owada shouted, cracking his knuckles. "Just tell me you did it, and I swear I'll make it painless NOW!"

"Owada, for curiosity sake, why do you suppose he's the killer?" Celes wondered.

"Why do you think?!" He retorted. "That bastard's gone, and when Yamada and I woke up, we're surrounded by fucking bear traps!" He yelled, pointing at Hagakure accusingly. "This fucker HAS to be the killer! It makes perfect sense with everything else!"

"I-I don't know how those got there though!" Hagakure moaned. "M-Ma-Maybe the killer put them around ya when I left for the bathroom?" He suggested nervously.

"With that many traps?! Hell no!" Owada disagreed. "'Sides! They wouldn't know if you were takin' a piss or a shit anyway, so how the hell would they know when you'd come back?"

"Geeeh, I don't knoooow!" Hagakure groaned again.

"Well let me use my fists to crack your head around until you do!" Owada cracked his palms again.

"Are you really sure the traps were meant for Ishimaru to begin with, though?" Kirigiri brought up. All eyes focused on her, especially Owada's.

"W...What do you mean?" He asked. He was actually a bit curious as to what this could mean. "Did you forget all the freaking floors filled with traps all over?"

"I think I see some plan in Kirigiri's mind, though." Celes said twirling her hair. "Think about it; if the killer filled only a single room with traps for a specific person, it'll be easier to identify who their killer was by narrowing down possible suspects. But if they filled every room with traps…"

"Then they'd make it harder for us to figure out who was trying to kill who!" Yamada screeched.

"It might be more than that." Kirigiri rubbed her chin in thought. "Think about it. First off, those traps could've easily ended up killing more than two people at a time, right?"

"M-Maybe they thought if they killed everybody else, Monokuma would let them go?" Yamada guessed.

"Are you kidding? That guy's a nut but he's really stingy about the rules." Asahina replied. As if to only prove her point, suddenly, everyone's e-Handbook went off.

_**The Monokuma File #2 has been updated. Please refer to your e-Handbooks for additional information.**_

_**Rule #8: If a student's life has officially ended, you are forbidden from returning that student from the land of the dead. **_

Asahina puffed her cheeks irritated slightly. "See? Now we don't even get second chances!"

"I gotta hand it to Naegs, it takes a lot of guts to make Monokuma angry enough to make a new rule." Hagakure commented.

"Naegi..." Kirigiri whispered. With a certain thought on mind, she turned back towards the rest of the group. "What if Naegi was the target?"

"What? You mean as in Naegi herself?" Owada asked. "Why the hell would someone target her of all people?"

"Actually...I think I know what Kirigiri is trying to say." Asahina agreed. "Remember immediately after waking up this morning?"

Kirigiri didn't need a reminder. She was completely lost for words when she first saw Naegi in that state. Part of her heart raced with panic for a brief time, thinking she was already hanged. Another part of her was filled with sorrow and fear, thinking of what would happen if they didn't save her in that small amount of time.

"Wait, what happened again?" Owada asked, trying to remember.

"She already fell into one of the traps in the hallway!" Asahina answered. "If we didn't save her in time, she could have died!"

"Geez, she's had it rough." Owada muttered, scratching his head. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"It might actually have everything to do with her." Kirigiri replied. "Think about it, the killer was aware that Naegi survived the first trap, much after when we all gathered around the entrance hall. So what do you suppose they did after that?"

"...!" Owada's eyes lit up with shock. "N-No way... Y-You telling me that-!"

"Kirigiri...Y-You're not suggesting..." Asahina was already at a loss for words. All Kirigiri could do was nod.

"Whoever the murderer is in this trial, their target wasn't Ishimaru. They failed killing their true target, and decided a more direct approach the second time. They're trying to kill Naegi herself."

...

...

...

A/N: Ugghhh...gawwwwwwww...my teef...*coughs blood while reading message* In response...to...many, many...interesting complaints...and a slightly pissed off mob...*Hack* oh god, my spleen...I decided to...bleeh...bring Naegi...*cough* back to life...uggggggghhhhh...

Lol, but seriously, tadaaaaaaa ^^! I bet a lot of you are pleased now, and not the person pointing that laser pointer at me with a sniper rifle ^^...q_P...But yeah, Naegi Makoto is indeed, a live again ^^! And for those saying otherwise, this is, in fact, REALISTIC! You can actually be brought back to life after death, even after hours (much to my surprise : /) from dying...I wonder if there's a record of how long one's been dead for before being brought back : /?

But either way! Naegi is indeed, alive ^^! And to make matters more interesting, SOMEONES TRYING TO KILL HER X_X_XXX_X_X_XX_X_X!

Well, maybe more frightening than interesting, but still. Anyway folks, up next, we actually DONT have a trial coming up! We have Kingdom-something's Bonus Episode coming up ^^

As for the rules of being allowed a bonus episode, it's simple- be the 5th reviewer out of every 5 reviews, and I'll write a bonus chp of your desire ^^ It can take place from any point in time with the story, and you won't have anything to fear in terms of messing with the main plot ^^ It can involve anyway, *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* *boob* *boo- wahhh! Wait, forget that last bit O_O!

Anyway, so yeah ^^ Up next is Kingdom's bonus chp, and then we'll get on to our trial!

If you think you know who the killer is by this point, leave your vote in a review :P! Even if it's not the 5th viewer, as a special prize to those who get it right, I'll do a bonus ep for them too ^^!

PS: Also thanks to insert name for reminding me I forgot fukawa in the flash back yesterday (seriously dude, either leave a signature in your free reviews or something cause I wanna chat with ya XP), that had nothing to do with the culprit, I just ended up forgetting about her. Bums me out too cause I double checked to make sure I didn't forget anyone, and at the time I thought I did forget someone who turned out to be leon. *sigh* memory sucks with autism X/...

Ahs well! Like, Rev, and Enjoy ^^!


	13. Bonus Episode 1 Hope Meets Despair

A/N: HUZZAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Someone actually took the liberty of requesting a bonus series episode ^^ How awesome! I'd like to thank, as well as return my shout out, to Explosive Kingdom ^^ Thanks again for being the first of requestees Kingdom! If this continues getting more popular, I might cut the required number of reviews down to five, so as to let more people take the chance of getting their own Bonus Chapter ^^ Anyway, please enjoy the first bonus episode, requested by Explosive Kingdom ^^!

*Warning: Mild suggestive scenes + SDR2 spoilers. Remember, this chp is completely off the record from the rest of the story, therefore, if scenes don't make sense in comparison to the rest, or the storyline seems confusing, just ignore it, as it may never be brought up in the main story ^^*

ENJOY!

...

...

...

"Huff...huff..." Ikusaba wiped the sweat from her brow as Oogami helped her off the ground.

"That was a grand sparring match, Mukuro." Oogami complimented patting her back as she stood. "With a bit of specialized training, you could master just about every form of Martial Arts." Ikusaba smiled to her as she grabbed her towel.

"Thanks Oogami, but I think I'll leave my training to strictly military. I wouldn't want to mess up my usual military training and end up getting yelled at by my commander...again." She said with the roll of her eyes.

"Hmhmhm," Oogami chuckled to herself, "well, if you ever change your mind, I would be more than happy to introduce you to my dojo. You'll fit right in." She promised.

*bzzzt*

Ikusaba's eyes briefly shifted to her right, if only due to instinct. Sensing her sudden distraction, Oogami couldn't help but speak.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Hmm?" She looked back. "Oh, sorry! I just remembered, I promised Yamada I'd find some missing stencils or something he lost." She replied with a smile. "I'll see you later, Sakura." She waved off with a smile. Oogami replied with a nod back to her, returning to her training once more.

Checking both sides of the hallway, then back to the door in case she heard Oogami again. Sighing, she turned her transmitter on once more.

"You know, you really have to work on the timing thing here." She whispered into the transmitter. "I mean really, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's when-

_"Silence." The voice ordered. Ikusaba's eyes widened with shock. This wasn't the voice of her usual partner, it was entirely different_.

Yet, she still recognized it, just a little.

"W-Who...Who is-" She tried asking.

_"Mukuro Ikusaba, the prodigal, Ultimate Soldier, huh? And, one who seems to have a relationship with...this, headmaster." It spoke. Even if she couldn't tell from where she was, the voice looked off to the side, eyeing the strange person swirling in her chair with a stuffed bear in their arms._

"Y-You...Is this-" Ikusaba was beginning to realize who she was talking to.

_"Never mind who this is. I only have one question for you." It stated._

"..." Ikusaba remained silent, having a bad feeling in her heart.

_"You know what I request, don't you?"_

"...What do you want with her?" Ikusaba's tone grew a bit more serious.

_"I want to speak with her."_

"About?"

_"Do you need to ask?" Ikusaba began squeezing her fist tighter._

"I haven't finished settling her in yet. Just give me a bit more ti-"

_"No. I'll deal with her myself." _

"But-!"

_"Enough." They firmly said. "I will speak to her. Alone."_

"...Just speak to her?" Ikusaba asked.

_"That is the only intention I have. Just bring her to me." _

That was all the voice said before cutting off the transmission. Even with this knowledge, Ikusaba couldn't help but worry. There was one person she knew never to cross, nor question. And she was expected to bring Naegi to them. She couldn't help as she clenched her chest tightly, feeling her heart beating in fear.

_Why does HE want to meet with her?_

...

...

...

"Where did you say you lost it again?" Naegi asked, looking under another desk.

"I don't knooooooooooow!" Yamada cried in a panic.

Naegi sighed as she continued checking the numerous drawers and desks throughout the classroom. As to how Yamada talked her into helping him find some simple missing stencils, she'll never know. She felt partly inclined to, given how they were friends with one another. One thing she could never get answered for herself was why Yamada couldn't just get a different set of stencils. The Monokuma Store had a variety of different stencils, even notebooks, to choose from. Yet, for some reason, Yamada was just obsessed with finding these particular stencils out of anything else he could get.

This was about the fifth room they've searched so far. The first room they searched was the second floor's library. It didn't take them too long to give up their search there. The only places they had to check was around the desks and book shelves around the walls. The floor was completely spotless, so they didn't have many locations to search.

After that, they spent the next near-hour checking several of the classrooms that were shaped like an actual classroom. These rooms took much longer to examine, given the numerous desks, shelves, and easy-to-roll-under places. They would've been able to end their searches faster, but Yamada insisted on moving the heavy furniture the stencils could have rolled under out of the way.

Much to her "shock", they weren't anywhere to be found.

Which left them with the Rec Room to search. Granted, Naegi wouldn't have the first ideas as to why Yamada would visit such a room, but after a simple explanation of how Yamada was following Celes' every command for the day as a servant, it pretty much answered that and all future questions she could have with Yamada...except about the freaking stencils!

"Huff, can we take a break here?" Naegi asked slightly exhausted. Even though she wanted to stop, she did feel sorry for Yamada as she groaned.

"Ooogghhh... I don't get it..." He whined. "I visited all the places I've been to the most since coming here! Why hasn't it shown up?" He asked wiping his glasses with his shirt.

"Are you sure you didn't just leave it in your back pocket or something?" Naegi asked.

"Preposterous!" Yamada shouted in disbelief, already digging in his back pockets for clarification. "I believe I would remember if I did, something as foolish, as even-!..." The slowly changing expression into Yamada's face left from being a face full of pride and honor, into one of sorrow and shame.

"..." Naegi lowered her brow somewhat unsurprised.

"...Thank you for the assistance?" He thanked with as much courage as he could. Naegi slapped herself in the face straight down as she rolled her eyes.

"See you later, Yamada." She said goodbye already heading towards the door. She didn't even bother looking back as Yamada waved, still ashamed with himself, and knowing he now owed her one.

Out the door, Naegi sighed as she started walking down the hallway. With Yamada assisted, she had the day to herself to do what she wanted. Of course, most of her day usually consisted of hanging out with her friends anyway.

It's something she liked to do. It made her feel closer with everyone with each passing day, feeling a bond growing each and every day she spent with one another. Sure, sometimes things ended on a strange note to her, but at least she was learning more about each and every one of her friends in the process. It was her favorite thing to do.

To bad she wouldn't get the chance to anymore.

"Mmmhhhhhhhh!" She suddenly screamed from fright as she felt a cloth placed over her mouth. Another arm was thrown around her neck, keeping her from running away.

With only a single breath, she felt her vision fading as everything went numb, with the lights sparkling vividly as she passed out. She didn't even get a chance to see who snuck up on her. Too bad too, because if she had even caught the slightest peek on Ikusaba's pained expression, she would've realized how much she truly cared about her...

...

...

...

Even in the darkness that surrounded her, Naegi could feel herself slowly regain conscious. It didn't seem to matter at the moment, however. Everywhere she looked, she saw nothing but darkness around her. She almost thought she had something covering her eyes, or that she was possibly trapped in something again. If it wasn't for the spotlight that suddenly beamed over her, she wouldn't think anyone would know where she was.

*chunk*

With the simple press of a button, not one she could see, she was momentarily blinded as a spotlight above her shot straight down. It didn't help her much in reality; everywhere she looked, outside the beam of light, was the same, pitch black darkness that had enveloped her. At least, she could see where she was now, which actually only ended up increasing her fear and distress.

Looking around, she appeared to be in some strange leather chair. On the bright, it was comfy.

Yeah...

On the down side, her arms were strapped down be several straps on each side of the Chair's arms. No matter how much she tried to loosen either side, her arms would not slip through. What confused her more was the lack of actual straps which kept her arms pinned to each side.

"W-What's going on...?" She asked out loud. She had no idea why she bothered. Something told her she wasn't alone in here, but at the same time, it also told her she would rather be alone if she knew the facts.

*tap*

*tap*

*tap*

She looked directly ahead as she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. From the sound of it, it sounded like someone walking in high heels. A girl? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that it was getting closer, and it was someone hidden in the darkness. Her heart began to race. She couldn't describe it, the overwhelming fear that was slowly enveloping her mind. Something told her to fear what was approaching her. Something told her she should run with all her might, even if she couldn't actually get up to go.

Something told her, to fear this young nurse that suddenly appeared before her from the darkness.

Naegi looked at her, slightly curious, slightly afraid. She seemed to be somewhat older, maybe a year or two more than Naegi herself. She had long purple hair, which trailed down straight to her thighs, and was wearing a practical Nurse's Uniform, with a mask covering most of her face, and blue rubber gloves covering each hand. And she was carrying a tray with her in her hands, though she couldn't figure out what was on it.

Her eyes, however, were what really stood out to Naegi. Naegi couldn't even describe how she was looking at her. As much as Naegi stared, her eyes were like an empty abyss filled with darkness, one that stretched on and on forever, even in her own eyelids. There was only one way to describe the emptiness within her eyes.

Despair.

"Hmm..." The mysterious nurse hummed to herself, tilting her head. Her expression was unreadable. Naegi couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"W...W-What?" Naegi hesitated to ask. She watched as the girl set the tray down on the floor to her side, then walked closer to Naegi.

"Hmm." She hummed again. Naegi's heart continued to beat faster as she felt the nurse gently grab her chin, lifting her head up slightly. "Your eyes..." She simply said.

"W-What about my eyes?" Naegi didn't like asking anything to this mysterious nurse. The nurse only stared at her for a moment before replying.

"Your eyes... They're so pretty." She complimented, grinning behind the mask. Naegi could feel a slight lump in her throat.

"T-Tha-Mhhhh!" She suddenly screamed in fear.

In one swift motion, said nurse had positioned herself directly in Naegi's lap, both her legs around the chair, and pinning Naegi's arms tighter. She had a hand clasped over her mouth tightly, pushing her head with incredible strength against the head of the chair. Nothing Naegi did could shake this girl off of her. Then again, shaking was the last thing she could think of doing.

There, the girl's was face, just inches away from Naegi's as she peered deeply into her eyes. With her right, free hand, there was a scalpel. A scalpel just barely an inch of Naegi's left eye. If Naegi had dared jerk her head forward, or caused the nurse's grip to wobble even slightly, she knew the scalpel would instantly impale her eye.

"Such pretty eyes..." She commented once again. "I think I know somebody who needs one, you know." Naegi could feel the grip around her mouth tighten, worrying her more.

"Mhhhmhhhhh!" She tried to scream. She had to shout for anyone to help her, just without moving too much.

"Oh, don't be so selfish, little Naegi." The nurse told her. Naegi's heart nearly skipped a beat.

_H-How does she know my name?!_ Naegi yelled inside her mind. She started growing even more disturbed as she nurse began trailing down her body with the knife.

"You only need one eye to see out of anyway." She said. Naegi's heart actually raced faster as she slowly trailed down, starting with her neck. "And I promise to take care of you too when we're done." She assured. She trailed the scalpel farther down to her breast. "I promise you, you'll feel sooooo happy when we're finished."

She continued trailing down to her bellybutton. "And we'll _play_ all the time. I'll _play_ with you, then sew you back up. Then _play_ with you, then sew you again! Then I'll _play_ with you and-" The nurse paused as she started tapping her chin. "Huh... I guess you'll be a bit messy after I _play_ with you too much...Naaah, I'm sure you'll be fine." She shrugged.

She finally began to ease her way, slowly working the scalpel to Naegi's lower regions. "And I can promise you, each day you'll feel sooooo good when it's all over... or dead." Naegi's eyes widened, one on account of her most recent comment, and two from the feeling she was getting as the disturbing nurse felt closer down to her area. "I honestly can't say. All depends if I miss a snip or two... Ah well!" She cheered, bringing the scalpel up to her eyes once more.

"But first things first! Let's hope I don't cut something important..." She added, slowly bringing the knife closer to Naegi's eye. Every nearing inch, Naegi's pupils dilated in horror.

_This person's nuts!_ Naegi screamed in her head.

She couldn't understand anything that was going on. Here she was, trapped by some insane nurse, and about to have her eye cut out. She didn't know what terrified her more, the scalpel nearing her eye, or the insane nurse who had numerous "uses" for her.

Probably the scalpel, since it was only an inch now from her eye.

"Ok, be still now." She warned. "I wouldn't want to accidentally cut into your brain and cause internal bleeding, and that's if you're lucky."

"Mikan." A voice suddenly called out. To Naegi's surprise, this one simple word was enough to make the crazed nurse, which she now knew as "Mikan" to come to a complete stop.

"Oooh." Mikan groaned, suddenly leaning far back while hanging onto Naegi. She was far back enough to tilt her head upwards and look behind her, albeit upside down. "Can't I _play_ with herrrrrrrrrr?" She groaned.

Naegi could finally see the person she was talking to as they came into the light. At least...she thought it was a person. There was something about him, something empty, mysterious, hallow. She couldn't put it into words. Compared to the presence this person gave off, Monokuma felt like a saint. It was truly horrifying to even think of such a thought.

They appeared to be wearing a simple school uniform, white t-shirt, blue long pants. That was the only thing that appeared to be normal about this person. His eyes were like looking into pure hellfire itself, colored in bright red, filled with hatred. And his hair was strange of it's own. It was overgrown, stretching down past his shoulders, all around him.

He stood firmly in place, both his feet positioned against each other as he had a cane standing straight up, holding it from the top with both his hands.

And yet, he only seemed to be a two, maybe three, years older than Naegi.

"Let her go, Mikan." He firmly told her. Naegi couldn't help but notice an eerie, shallow, echoing tone in his voice.

"But I wanna _plaaaaaaay_!" Mikan whined like a child.

"I'm sure you have plenty of other toys you haven't finished playing with yet." He replied. "Now release one of her arms, and leave us."

"Ooohhhh..." She moaned, sitting straight up and staring straight at Naegi again. "We would've had so much fun toooooo."

She moaned once more, letting go of Naegi's mouth, but not before flicking her hair a bit. Naegi mentally sighed in relief, glad that she wasn't going to be dissected after all. She made sure though just to do it in her mind, fearing if she showed any sign of relief that the crazed nurse would change her mind.

Getting off of Naegi's lap, Mikan swayed her way over to Naegi's right side. She couldn't see how she was doing it, but she appeared to be messing with a strange locking mechanism. Once it was released, she watched as Mikan walked off into the darkness once more.

Naegi glanced at her free arm closely, then back to the one still bound. She saw this as her own chance. If she could unlock the one from her left, she could quickly bolt away, and pray that she'd outrun the two. However, as if sensing her intent, the mysterious man spoke up.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you." He warned, catching Naegi's attention. "If you don't unlock it in the correct sequence, the mechanism will cut your arm off."

Naegi's eyes could only widen in fear as she gave up any ill thoughts of escaping. All she could do was sit there and watch as the mysterious stranger kneeled briefly, picking up the files from the floor with one hand, reading them out loud as he opened it.

"Naegi Makoto: Date of birth, February 5th. Height 5'3. Weight 115 lbs. Gender...Female." He looked further down the charts for additional information. "Huh, says you have a sister. Interesting." With that, he closed the file completely, tossing it to the side.

Naegi was partly lost for words. Just who were these people? How did they know so much about her, or where did they even get this information?! She had a feeling all these questions would be revealed, and she knew she didn't want the answers

Looking to her right once more, she saw Mikan appear from the darkness once again, with another tray in her hands. This time, she appeared to be carrying two simple cups with her, watching as the steam rose to the air. With a smile hidden by her mask, she watched as Mikan offered one of the drinks to the mysterious man before her.

"Your drink, sir." She offered respectfully.

"Thank you, Mikan." He replied simply as he took the drink. He turned his attention back to Naegi. "Do you drink tea?" Naegi was a bit hesitant to answer.

"Y-Yes..." She muttered. She grew nervous for a brief moment as she watched Mikan walk towards her, but was relieved as she simply lowered the tray down in front of Naegi.

"Your tea, miss." She simply stared at Naegi, watching her until she, shakily, took the tea.

With that, she gave a simple nod, leaning up and walking out to the darkness once more. Naegi never even noticed, but during that time, a chair appeared right behind the man, the man seeming to have stood in place without ever moving.

"You'll have to excuse Mikan. She gets a bit...excited, when meeting new people for the first time." He stated taking a seat.

"W-Who...Who are you?" Naegi asked nervously. She couldn't bring herself to even speak with the man, at least not without knowing his name after all of this.

The airing silence this man gave off only filled her with more and more fear. It was as if his presence alone was sucking out any feelings of hope she had by the minute.

Closing his eyes, the man firmly answered. "My name...is Izuru Kamukura, named after the school's founder." He gazed back to her once more. Not even Naegi was fully aware of the school's founder's name. Yet, she had a more pressing question on her mind that she almost didn't want to answer.

"What...What do you want with me?" She asked. There was never a sense of relief as Izuru smiled at this, closing his eyes.

"Hmph, want, want, want." He repeated. "That's what it always comes down to in this world." He opened his eyelids again, maintaining somewhat of a smile. "I might sound hard to believe, but to be honest, I don't want anything from you."

For once, Naegi grew a little surprised since this conversation started. And not with fear, either.

"You... don't?" She raised her brow.

"Nope. On the contrary, I actually have something to offer you instead." He stated.

*stomp*

Naegi jumped slightly as he raised his cane slightly, smacking the tip of it into the ground loudly.

"An invitation." He added. Naegi's confusion and understanding only grew more perplexed.

"An invitation?" She waited for a moment as Izuru took a sip of his tea. "An invitation to what?"

"Just a simple one, I assure you." He grinned. "An invitation to join Ultimate Despair."

The words somehow resounded in Naegi's mind with unease. Ultimate Despair? What kind of thing was Ultimate Despair? A talent? A group? She couldn't tell.

"Ultimate...despair?" She repeated questionably.

"Hmhm," he chuckled slightly, "I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of it. I doubt you would even have any recollection of it either, provided Enoshima did her job right." Naegi's eyes lit up at this.

"W-Wait, Enoshima? What does she have to do with anything?"

"It doesn't matter. It simply comes down to an easy choice; give in to Despair, or die."

Naegi's heart began to race as he said these words. She couldn't help but gulp slightly, fearing for her life once again. The way this man spoke, the way he said what he said with simple ease as if it didn't mean anything. He was starting to frighten her more than Mikan was awhile ago.

She didn't think that was even possible!

"G-Give in to despair...?" Naegi was still confused.

"Yes, despair." He stood up, continuing to speak as he started walking around her. "Do you think despair is actually a bad thing, Naegi?" Naegi was almost tempted to say yes.

"I-I don't know..." She replied, trying to watch as he walked around her.

"Nice lie. Personally I think it takes more guts to lie in your position than to tell the truth." Naegi shuttered slightly. At this point, she was fully aware that there was no use trying to lie to him. "Allow me to respond to what your true answer would have been." He responded.

"Despair, is nothing but a ground of morals. Just like right and wrong, good and evil. _What_ despair is, doesn't even exist. It's nothing more than one's viewpoint on the world." He explained.

"S-So...What's your viewpoint on it then?" Naegi asked worriedly. The sight of him stopping right in front of her only made her feel more tense. From his side, he turned his head right, looking down at her with a blank expression.

"My viewpoint? I actually don't have a viewpoint to be honest. All I have, are standards, and beliefs." He turned his back to her, cane at his side. "In my belief, Despair will, eventually, bring order to this world. Order, and power."

"Power?" Izuru walked back to his chair, sitting down once again.

"Yes, power. Within despair, there lies sorrow. In sorrow, one can not help but look down on one's life. By looking down on your own life, you lack the will to move on." He gestured with his hand. "And, without the will to go on, you can face nearly any obstacle, without fear of death itself." He stated.

Naegi couldn't help but feel partially in awe at this. It was a bit interesting at how he viewed despair. There was a bit of logic to his words, sort of. Without the fear for your own life, you wouldn't fear what would or could happen to you at any given time. It practically made you a weapon, willing to face any odds that came your way.

"That's a... rather interesting belief." Naegi commented. Izuru smiled slightly.

"I'm glad you agree then. It will make everything else much easier then." Naegi blinked in confusion.

"Easier?" She repeated. With the simple tap of his cane, Naegi suddenly watched as two square-shaped openings began forming from the walls. It was like watching someone open the shades of a window, noticing how more light was seeping into the room.

Of course, from where she was, she couldn't see anything behind her. All she could see were the openings being made behind Izuru, which continued to grow as if a garage door was being opened right in front of her. With a resounding "thud", the openings finally came to a stop, revealing as much as they could- of the outside world itself.

The sight of it nearly made Naegi's heart stop itself. She gaped in horror, losing grip of her tea cup that she had yet to even taste, causing it to shatter on the ground upon impact.

"W-W-Wha-Whaaa..." Naegi was too lost for words. Izuru stood up once more, turning his back to her as he gestured to the sight with both hands.

"Behold, Naegi. The world it is now. One conflicted with Hope, and Despair." He revealed.

Naegi couldn't take her gaze off the sight of it all. It was breath taking, and not in a joyous way either. It was more along the lines of a terrifying, breath-taking view.

The outside world was right before her eyes, and only now, could she regret wishing for such a sight. She watched as the buildings continued to burn, how the sky was covered in an orange and yellow hue of fire and cinder. From the outside, she could hear the terrified screams of men and women alike, all of who were currently survivors of this apocalyptic city.

It was agonizing to watch, yet she couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was like the more she tried to, the more she was tempted to keep watching. She wanted to keep watching, if only to tell herself that it was nothing more than a dream, one that she hoped she would wake up from soon. But she never did.

The sight of it all continued to terrify her without end. All of this was easily telling her was that there was no god anymore. A god would not allow such a sight otherwise.

"W-Wh-What is this?!" Naegi screamed in fear and confusion.

"The world as it is now, Naegi." Izuru replied. "This is the world that has yet to be purged."

"P-P-Purged?" Naegi stuttered.

"Yes, purged. One where a few shreds of hope continue to last. One that has yet to fully give in to despair. Isn't it marvelous?"

"W-What?" Naegi knew for certain now. This man was insane.

"All across the world, cities like this are being purged, even as we speak. It'll continue cleansing the world as needed, until the world is nothing but despair itself. It'll be beautiful." Izuru said with a hint of joy.

"N-No...Y-You're lying!" Naegi screamed in disbelief. She couldn't help but tear up slightly. The sight of Izuru lowering his arms slowly only made her fears worse.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"T-Th-This can't be the world!" Naegi argued. "I-I mean this couldn't have even happened in mere days! The world was peaceful when I last saw it!"

"Huh... When you last saw it, huh?" Izuru tapped his cane once more. Almost instantly, the openings to the outside world closed up once more, filling the room with it's darkness. "When WAS the last time you even saw the world, Naegi?"

"A-A few weeks ago." Naegi answered.

"Hmm, strange." He turned to face her once again. "Last I recalled, the world has been like this for nearly a full year." He stated.

"Huh?" Naegi's confusion only grew with worry.

"I guess Junko did do her job. Not that I'm fully surprised."

"Would you just stop already!?" Naegi shouted. Izuru's attention was slightly intrigued. "Why do you keep bringing up Junko? What the hell happened to the world? Why me?!" She kept shouting.

Ever since this meeting began, Naegi has been given nothing but confusion and despair. Nothing was being answered to her, and nothing was making sense. Who or what was Ultimate Despair, who were these people, what happened to the world. Everything was just confusing!

And all Izuru could do was rub his chin.

"Well, I can answer your last question for now, Naegi." He replied. "It's because we have a lot in common, believe it or not." He said, raising the tip of his cane as he set it on Naegi's shoulder gently.

"W-What do you mean?" Naegi could never see herself in this guy's shoes.

"I mean what I said. Believe it or not, we have quite a few similarities, you and I. We both were simply chosen to join Hope's Peak Academy, neither of us were actually wanted, however. Neither of us have any talents-"

"B-But I do have a talent!" Naegi tried interrupting. "I'm-"

"The Ultimate Luckster? Is that what you're about to tell me?" He asked. Naegi's silence only confirmed this. "And above all, to be quite honest, neither of us have any real hope left." Naegi lowered her head. "From our births, we had hope, and belief that we were special, that we had purpose. And look where it brought us?"

Izuru smiled mentally at the sight. Naegi appeared to be giving in, much as he expected. He knew quite a lot about her, after all. Just an average girl, average life, average family and friends. She had no real purpose up to this point in her life, no one who could help her at this point, and every reason to join.

"This is why, I place this offer, into your hands Naegi. Join Ultimate Despair, and be spared the suffering." He offered. "You don't have to suffer like the rest. Within our society, you can be anything you desire, live without fear. We can even bestow upon you, actual talents. What more could you want?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...No." Naegi answered. Izuru was actually a bit surprised at this.

"Excuse me?" Izuru couldn't understand. Naegi looked up to him with a slight expression of anger. Anger, and resistance.

"I said no." Naegi repeated. "I don't care if the world is like this or not. For all I know, this could be one giant trick or something!"

Izuru lowered his brow. "You don't believe the truth?"

"I don't care if it is the truth!" Naegi shook her head. "Even if the world's filled with nothing but despair, even if I have no hope left, I wouldn't give in to despair!" This was a rather startling revelation to Izuru.

"Interesting...Are you saying you wouldn't give in to Despair, even if you didn't have an ounce of hope left?"

Naegi nodded. "I wouldn't give in even if I was the last person on Earth who hasn't given into Despair, even if I had no hope left!" She firmly stated.

"Hmm...I see." Izuru simply said, walking to Naegi's right. "I actually do admire your determination, believe it or not. It's a trait not many people have in this world, even those with despair." He complimented. He had no more expression to show to Naegi. "It's a pity, really."

Before Naegi could react or move her arm, Izuru re-strapped her arm tightly to the chair. She panicked slightly, trying to pull from it as much as she could.

"I actually don't take much joy out of this, Naegi. I really don't." Izuru stated as he began walking away. He carried his cane in his right hand as he turned around once more facing her. "But a person who doesn't give into Despair, even if they have zero hope left? That actually sounds worse than a person filled with hope." Naegi watched curiously as he raised his fingers.

*snap!*

"Mikan, please play to your heart's content." He ordered. Naegi's eyes trembled.

"No-mhhh!" She tried to scream.

She wasn't even aware of it, but the chair itself had a third strap located directly behind her head. With a swift work of her wrist, Mikan applied the strap to Naegi over her mouth, pinning her tightly against the head of the chair, with another strap placed over her neck. It partly choked her a bit.

Much to her surprise, the chair even had a wooden lever on the side which she never noticed. With one pull, the chair was pulled completely back, forming a 180-degree angle. Naegi could only watch in fear, struggling as much as she could, as she watched Mikan eagerly climb from the base of the chair, which now resembled more like an operating table, all the way until she was sitting on Naegi's chest, sitting on her knees with her feet to the side.

Naegi didn't even know what had happened, but Mikan's expression terrified her even more now. A cynical smile could easily be seen now, even behind Mikan's mask, and the hallowed expression within her eyes looked as if they were practically vibrating.

Naegi could only feel true fear.

Mikan looked back excitedly at Izuru. "Can I play with her as much as I want?!" She was ecstatic.

"You can do as much as you'd like to her." He confirmed.

"Oooohooooh..." Mikan couldn't help as she began squeezing her own chest, shaking from the stimulation this was building up for herself. She nearly drooled as she let out a visible puff of hot air, unable to control the arousal she was feeling from this.

"This feels so amazing..." Mikan commented looking down at Naegi. "Don't you feel good too?"

"Mmhhhh!" Naegi moaned, struggling hopelessly against Mikan's weight and the restraints in the chair. She could only moan and squirm with a slight teary blush as Mikan squeezed her chest slightly.

"Oh, don't worry. I promise I'll keep you around for years to come!" She said with glee, leaning closer to Naegi's face. Naegi's pupils shrank as she reintroduced her to the scalpel from earlier, bringing it closer to her right eye again.

"_N-NO...PLEASE_!" Naegi screamed inside her mind. Even if she wanted to scream at this point, her fears were preventing her. She knew this nurse was crazy. It didn't matter what she promised, she could tell easily, that she was about to die.

"Wait." Izuru firmly ordered. MIkan looked back with slight curiosity and confusion. All she could see was Izuru standing there in place, staring straight ahead, yet not actually looking at her himself. "What are you doing?" He asked out loud.

Mikan hadn't noticed at the time, unable to see the hand or the knife that was actually at his throat from the front. Trailing the hand to it's origin, Ikusaba could be seen standing behind him with a stern look on her face. Even as the knife was behind him, he also had a pistol pressed against his back. It would ensure he wouldn't try anything from the front or the back while he was within her sights. Yet he never lost an ounce of his composure.

"You told me you would only talk to her. Nothing else." She growled.

"I said it was my only intention. I never said it wasn't subject to change." He replied.

"Bullshit!" Ikusaba shouted. "Let her go, NOW!" She commanded. She couldn't see it, but Izuru just rolled his eyes.

"Before that, Peko, would you mind withdrawing the sword."

Ikusaba looked back as if suddenly noticing the person behind her. Despite having the upper hand on Izuru, someone suddenly dropped the upper hand on her without her knowing. The mysterious swordsman had their face concealed in a black hood, wearing nothing but a dark black chest, with blotches of pink blood stains all around it. And in her hands was a katana, the very one she had the tip pressing against the back of Ikusaba's neck.

There was truly a demon hidden in this outfit.

"Forgive me, master, but I must refuse." Peko replied. "I already have the advantage over her. There's no need to be concerned."

"Hmph," Izuru chuckled slightly, "actually, I was requesting it for your sake, not mine." He stated.

Shifting her eyes down, she already knew she too was at a cross. With a laser pointed directly at her chest where her heart is, she could easily see the gun in Ikusaba's right hand now. It was angled around Ikusaba's own chest near her waist, hidden until Peko took notice. At this point, if any of them tried something, all three would die.

"Damn..." Peko cursed slightly. She refused to let go of her grip, but also refused to move her position.

"Now to more pressing matters, what do you think you're doing?" Izuru asked Ikusaba.

"I want Naegi." Ikusaba replied firmly. "Give her back, now."

"You know we can't do that. She already knows too much, and even you know that."

"I'll just erase her memory again. She won't recall a thing." Ikusaba promised.

"Heh, you think it'll make a difference?" Izuru raised a brow. "You just erase her memory, it won't change her opinion or view on life. She'll still be defiant in the face of despair." He stated.

"I already told you, I'll handle this myself. I just need time and patience." If Izuru could rub his chin without worry that Ikusaba would slice his throat upon seeing movement, he would.

"How curious. And what would you do if I say no?" He wondered. Ikusaba grinned.

"Well, first I'd slice your throat, shoot Peko in the chest, then while she stabs me in the throat, quickly dislodge a bullet into MIkan's skull while shooting off Naegi's restraints." She said proudly, almost as if she knew what would happen.

And so did he.

"That makes things even more interesting. But what makes you think I care about my own life? I could just ask Peko to kill you and kill all of us right now. It wouldn't bother me, you know." Ikusaba smiled, nodding slightly.

"Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure you'd actually much rather see a bloodbath play out than accept my offer. But really now, are you sure you want to throw your life away, while still leading all that's taking place within the world? You do that now, and a battle for supremacy might ensue. Too many dumbasses would just challenge one another for your position, all the while Hope makes a come back, and eventually dismantles everything even resembling despair." She retorted.

"...Ha." Izuru couldn't help but smirk as he closed his eyes. "Well played then." He admitted defeat glancing back to Mikan. "MIkan, you know what to do."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Mikan pouted once more, waving her arms. "But you promised this time!"

"Mikaaan..." He said again, with a slight irritation to his voice. Mikan could only sigh as her arms drooped to her side.

"Oh pooh...fine." She moaned. Naegi watched in amazement as she tossed the scalpel away, only to fear her once more as she saw her pull out a syringe and vial.

"Sorry Naegi, we can't play anymore. But I promise you we'll meet again. And then," she filled the syringe with strange blue liquid and raised it up high, "we'll play indefinitely, forever and ever..." She grinned grabbing the syringe with both her hands.

And with one strong thrust, she plunged it down on Naegi's chest, and everything turned white.

...

...

...

"AHHHH!" Naegi suddenly screamed in fear, rising from her bed. She began panting as she sweated, realizing she was back in her bedroom. She couldn't understand why, but she couldn't stop herself from breathing heavily, almost as if experiencing the worst fear imaginable only moments ago.

The scream alone was enough to startle Ikusaba, who awoke next to Naegi at her bedside. She quickly turned the lamp on the side of the bed on, noticing Naegi huffing in a bit of sweat.

"Naegi, Naegi! What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. Naegi continued to breathe heavily for a bit.

She couldn't understand it. Something was off about all of this. She felt like she wasn't actually here just moments ago, yet she also couldn't recall anything about where she was before hand. It was as if her heart knew what she herself didn't, noticing the tears that trailed from her eyes.

Yet no matter how hard she tried to recall, she just couldn't. She couldn't even tell if there was anything TO recall. She was just scared.

"I-I...I d-don't know..." Naegi replied, terrified. Ikusaba leaned up in bed slightly, pulling Naegi closer to her in a hug.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, there's nothing to be scared of." She comforted her. "It was probably just a nightmare or something." Naegi sniffled a little as she wiped her eyes.

"I-I know but...B-But I don't know, it just felt...I was scared for real!" She exclaimed. Ikusaba gently pulled her head closer to her chest, petting her head slightly.

"It's ok, don't worry. I promise you it was all just a bad dream." She assured.

A part of her wondered if the technique they used to erase her memory was only perfect the first time around. The fact Naegi could recall some aspect of her emotions partly convinced her that using it repeatedly on the same person caused it to degrade gradually over time.

She couldn't help but find Naegi a bit cute though when she was terrified like this. Longing for someone to comfort her, Naegi telling her about her problems and worries. It was one aspect she loved about Naegi, her and her honesty about things.

With a smile, she turned the lamp near the bed back off. pulling the covers over the two once more.

"It's alright, just go back to sleep." She told her softly. Naegi did as she was closed, still a bit frightened and wanting to forget whatever was terrifying her so much. "I promise you Naegi, I won't let anything bad ever happen to you. Not as long as I'm here..."

...

...

...

Hoofta and viola! There was Explosive Kingdom's bonus episode ^^! I should note, I mostly filled in the gaps here and there, such as Naegi's "interactions" with Mikan and what not, so don't go thinking that was his/her suggestion if you thought it was creepy XP (Pssst! I lied to them just like you asked EK :P!)

Lol, jking jking XP seriously though, actually enjoyed this somewhat and it came out longer than I anticipated, especially anything with a bit of "mikan" in it because well, let's be honest; anyone who offers to strip naked in front of the first person they meet is a little coo-coo in the head, and most likely a bit horny constantly (and yet it's what makes them hilarious ^^)

Well, anyway! Here's to the first Bonus episode! Like I said, bonus episodes take place outside the main storyline like filler episodes, so no worry of it crossing over with the main storyline whatsoever. To EK, hope you enjoyed your bonus episode :P Again as always, you can receive a chance of getting a bonus episode by being the 10th person out of every 10 reviews! I would make it 5, but then realized it'd be spreading out the main storyline and bonus eps too much and might end up never getting this fic done X/.

Anyway, like, fav, and review as always, and hope you enjoy future episodes to come ^^!


	14. Confusion and Duuuh Trial 3 Part 1

A/N: I really don't have much to say this time around, but I would like to make a shoutout to "Insert Name" (WHO NEEDS A FREAKING ACCOUNT SOON XD!)- not the usual "Shout outs", but a "shoutout" just to note something; you write waaaaaay freaking big reviews dude XP Lol seriously I lovit ^^!

Anyway, onto the case! And who do YOU think the killer is?! Is it Asahina? Celes? Kirigiri? Ikusaba? Naegi(fat chance- not due to her statistics but it already killed me once killing her off so not repeating that anytime soon X!), Oogami, Hagakure, Owada, Yamada, Fukawa, or the New York Yanks?!

READ TO FIND OUT!

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...

...

"Upupupu! Welcome to your Uno, Duex, , Trois, class trial everybody!" Monokuma greeted with laughter. He began going over the details of the Trials rules for the 3rd time now.

"In today's class trial, you'll be determining who killed your fellow classmate, Kiyotaka Ishimaru! As always, if you fail to find the correct suspect, everybody BUT the criminal will be punished, and the criminal will be allowed to graduate!" He then turned his attention towards Naegi. "Oh, and for your own convenience Naegi, I took the liberty of leaving a bucket with ya, just in case." He teased.

"Woohoo..." Naegi groaned rolling her eyes.

She was formally dressed back in her old outfit once again, consisting of her usual pants, green hoodie, and black jacket. She didn't have a problem wearing her new, more feminine outfit, but they still hadn't dried off yet after Naegi's murder. A murder which continued to question the minds of her fellow classmates.

Up to this point, just about everyone knew the basics of everything; last night, everyone was introduced to some strange drink offered to Monokuma himself. After ingesting it, although they couldn't remember, Monokuma took the liberty of gassing everyone with a mysterious, non-lethal toxin.

After awakening, Naegi was the first to single-handedly discover that the school was rigged with traps, and by single handedly, it means she was almost strangled to death! Fortunately, with the timely intervention of her friends who woke up soon after her departure, they managed to save Naegi from her fate.

Upon regrouping with everyone else that morning, the entire class took the time to debug and disable as many traps as they could find throughout the school. Some were simple with weight mechanics to them, others were more sophisticated with a room-sized explosion by just flicking on a simple light switch. The entire school became more of a literal death trap than it already had.

About an hour after, the groups had managed to disable just about all the traps they could come across. With this realization, they all attempted to meet back in the entrance hall to re-group. However, while attempting to leave, Naegi heard some strange noise coming from the pool area, and was left by herself.

This ended up being her last mistake. While investigating the area, the killer's final trap had been sprung; with Naegi on her own, the killer snuck upon her and trapped her themselves. Once she was secured, they successfully managed to drown her to death within the pools where Ishimaru was later located. If not for the intervention of Ikusaba and emergency CPR, Naegi would no longer be with them at this point.

What none of the group had revealed to Naegi by this point, is what Kirigiri realized after putting the facts together: Naegi was the killer's target.

And now, the trial shall begin from a simple question on Owada's mind.

"Uhh hey, you mind if I ask something?" Owada asked scratching his head. "Umm first off, sorry for bringing this up Naegi, but I really got to know it."

"What's wrong?" Naegi asked curiously.

"Well...as far as the whole murder thing goes, since Naegi survived her own murder and all, do we have to look for her killer too or no?" Owada asked Monokuma.

That actually was an interesting question. If a murderer kills someone and the victim returns to life, are they still a murderer?

"Huff," Monokuma sighed in a slump, "that's exactly why I added the new rule. Stuff like this makes things too confusing, and above all, these trials would go way too smoothly if the victim kept coming back to tell us who the killer is." He shook his head to Owada. "Well, to answer your question, I've decided to look the other direction, just this once. This trial is currently for the killer of Ishimaru, and only him!"

"Wait, does that mean Naeg's killer and Ish's killer are two different people?" Hagakure asked scratching his head.

"Maybe yes, maybe no!" Monokuma replied, refusing to give any direct answer. "All I'm saying is that catching Naegi's killer isn't the priority! Unless they happened to have killed Ishimaru themselves!" He raised his paw proudly. "Now, lets see what you do with that information!"

"If I may be direct, I actually have a question about all this." Celes stated twirling her hair. "First off, was the killer actually trying to kill Naegi and Ishimaru, or were they just willing to target anyone in particular?"

"Kirigiri already said," Asahina replied, "they wouldn't risk killing more than two people with all those traps!"

"Do you know how freaking bull that sounds?" Owada responded crossing his arms. "I don't mean to be rude to a chick here, but that's complete shit. I mean seriously, what difference does it make?! He killed bro, so he's fucked either way!" He roared punching his fist.

It was obvious that he was angered over the lost of his "bro".

"By the way, that's something that's been bothering me too." Yamada brought up. "Where do you suppose they got all the traps to begin with?"

"Didn't the storage room have anything in it?" Naegi asked curiously.

"The only thing trap related in there dude were the ropes." Hagakure replied. "It doesn't explain where the whole bomb stuff or the bear traps came from."

"Could they have made it themselves?" Oogami wondered.

"This isn't getting us anywhere." Owada muttered. "If we keep asking about traps to each other, we wont get any answers."

"Well what do you suggest we talk about then?" Ikusaba asked. "It doesn't really matter where we start from- if we don't find out where they got the traps, we'll never make progress."

"Are the traps really relevant at the present time?" Kirigiri rubbed her chin.

"Huh?"

"Even if we do discuss where the traps came from, it won't answer anything. We already know Ishimaru's and Naegi's M.O.D. Only Naegi's had to do with a trap." She explained as all eyes turned to her.

Except Fukawa's. As always, she only just nibbled on her thumb looking away.

"What makes you think Ish's death wasn't from a trap, Kiri?" Hagakure asked.

"Remember when we found Naegi?" She hesitated bringing up, knowing Naegi's uneasiness talking about her own death. "She was tied with her arms pinned to her side so she couldn't swim out. However, Ishimaru was simply drowned at the bottom, nothing was keeping him from swimming."

"I see." Celes said tapping her chin. "So you think just because Ishimaru wasn't restrained like Naegi, that his death has nothing to do with a trap?"

"There's that, but there's another aspect that's bothering me." Kirigiri brought up her e-Handbook, looking over the Monokuma File #1. "Look at his specific cause of death. It says here it was purely from the lack of air, asphyxiation in other terms."

"So what did kill him then? Did he get hanged or what?" Owada asked. Kirigiri could only shake her head.

"That's the part that puts me at an impasse." She replied.

"An impasse?" Asahina repeated questionably.

"I can already say for certain, that his death was asphyxiation. What I can't determine, however, is if he was suffocated, or if he drowned."

"Why can't you tell which one it is?" Yamada asked pushing up his glasses.

"Does it even matter, dude?" Hagakure also added.

"To answer both questions, it does matter." Kirigiri stated. "If he died from drowning, his body would've been in the pool the entire time, but he would also have some indication that he was trapped there. On the other hand, if he died while he wasn't in the water, it means someone brought his body there afterwards."

"Wouldn't that mean, though, that he actually died somewhere else?" Ikusaba replied. "We haven't seen any traps that have gone off other than the one Naegi and Celes fell for since we started debugging the traps this morning. In addition, we've all been with one other person since this morning, so there's no way someone would've gone off on their own to murder Ishimaru or hide his body later."

"Ikusaba has a good point!" Naegi agreed. Ikusaba smiled mentally at this. "If we've all been together since this morning, wouldn't that mean Ishimaru was killed earlier before then?"

"So, you're saying you think it was someone before we all met up." Owada smiled giving Naegi the thumbs up. "I'm really glad you think that, Naegi."

"...Why do you say that?" Naegi raised her brow slightly.

"Because it tells me what I already know," he pointed towards Hagakure angrily, "that fucker's the one who killed my bro!" Owada shouted.

"I keep telling you dude, it wasn't meee!" Hagakure moaned squeezing his head.

"Tell it to the fuckin' judge man!" Owada cracked his knuckle.

"Owada, I understand your hate, but there is a problem with your claim." Oogami said, much to Owada's surprise.

"What sort of prob'?" Owada asked confused.

"If your claim that Hagakure is the killer simply because he was alone this morning, then that, too, means I am also a likely suspect." Oogami revealed.

"Not just her, but the same goes for Fukawa and I." Celes added. "Basically, everyone who was alone this morning is without an alibi."

"Geeh..." Owada groaned turning away.

He hated to admit it, but she had a good point. If everyone who was alone this morning are the only viable suspects, then that means the killer was either Oogami, Fukawa, Celes, and Hagakure. And the fact he had to respect women due to his man's honor, he only felt more tempted to accuse Hagakure.

"Hey, wait a minute! Isn't it possible one of the girls from the slumber party did it too?" Yamada accused, much to the girls' surprise.

"What?!" Ikusaba yelped.

"It would be no surprise, my sweet!" Yamada said with pride. "I can perfectly picture any one of you wishing revenge after...uhh..." He began sweating as he thought about it. "The..._incident_, last night..."

"You mean before or after the peep show you pervs had last night?!" Asahina shouted.

All three boys could only blush as they turned away slightly embarrassed. But nowhere near as embarrassed as Naegi was from just thinking about it. They kept saying time and again, it was a simple mistake or turn of circumstances when they were discovered.

But people had to admit, it's hard to call it a simple "turn of circumstances" when up to four boys simultaneously fall face first into a girl's chest when she's down to her semi-transparent nightie.

"Erm...I'm just s-saying, in terms of motive, you know?" Yamada muttered.

"Regardless, how could we pull off the murder?" Ikusaba asked with her arms crossed. "We were all together for the entire night, already had a bathroom, and had enough food and drinks to last for almost several nights! We wouldn't have any need to leave."

"Besides, Oogami was still guarding on patrol, so none of us would've been able to even attempt something without her knowing." Kirigiri added.

"Oh...right..." Yamada groaned in defeat.

At the time, Kirigiri couldn't help but glance over at Naegi, noticing her sudden silence and perplexed look. "Is something wrong, Naegi?"

"Huh?" Naegi snapped back into focus hearing her name. "Oh, umm...It's probably nothing, j-just..." She couldn't help but lower her brow as she tapped her chin. All other heads turned towards her.

"What's wrong, Naegi?" Asahina asked curiously. Naegi scratched her cheek a bit before she could reply.

"W-Well...it's just..." Naegi referred back to her e-Handbook as she looked at the evidence. She scrolled down through the sections until she came across the piece about the bear traps. "There's something that's bothering me with the whole bear trap thing from this morning..."

"Heh? What do you mean?" Owada asked, referring to his own e-Handbook to check it out.

"Well... Hagakure wasn't there when you guys woke up and all, right?"

"Yeah, which is why I'll personally strangle him until his eye sockets pop out..." Owada said in a casual tone, much to Hagakure's sorrow.

"Well... Actually there's two things bothering me now that I think of it." She examined the bear traps itself for more detail. "First off...why?"

There was confusion all around at this vague question.

"Why...? Why what?" Kirigiri asked. She truly wondered with curiosity if Naegi noticed something she didn't.

"I mean... Why the bear traps at all?" She turned to face Kirigiri directly. "I mean, think about all the other traps we came across. All of them were hidden or concealed by a mechanism and all, right?" She turned back to the bear trap page again. "But then why would they bother putting the bear traps all in plain sight? They could've easily been avoided the whole time!"

Kirigiri let out a silent gasp as she quickly flipped to the information on her e-Handbook, looking over the bear traps once again. She couldn't believe Naegi caught it before her, but she was right! All the other traps they had come across up to this point were all hidden and concealed. Yet, these were the only traps that were laid out in the open.

On top of that, despite the sensitivity the weight mechanisms on each of them were, all of them could have been easily disabled, and/or moved away with a bit of time. They practically didn't pose any threat whatsoever in comparison to the rest of the traps.

"N-Naegi...you're right." Kirigiri admitted. "None of the other traps were easy to notice." She faced the rest of the group again. "The ones in the lunchroom were practically a distraction compared to all of them."

"C-Couldn't they have just expected us to simply walk into one accidentally after waking up?" Yamada asked curiously. "I mean, I tend to be rather groggy when I first wake up each day."

"No man, they're right." Owada said, looking over the data. "Not only were they out in the open, but they were like several feet all away from us. If they wanted to make us fall for the traps, they would've practically put it right under our feet or right next to us!"

"Also, there's one other thing bothering me about-..." Naegi paused scratching her head.

"What's the other thing on your mind?" Celes tapped her chin.

"Well, and this might just be me thinking things over, but..." She couldn't help but shake her head trying to clear her mind. "Well... You said Hagakure was the killer because he was outside of the traps at the time, right?"

"Yeah...why?" Owada was growing suspicious of where this was going.

"It's just that... If Hagakure was outside at the time too, then where was Ishimaru?" Naegi asked.

Owada didn't know what to say to be honest. She was right about that point- how did Ishimaru get out of the room as well if Hagakure was the one who set the traps up? It would practically suggest that both Hagakure AND ishimaru left the lunchroom, and then the killer who made the traps came around and planted the bear traps.

But the confusion was why would Ishimaru have left at all by that point?

"Couldn't the killer have just carried Ishimaru from the lunchroom when Hagakure was there, and drowned him in the pool after?" Yamada asked.

"Are you nuts? If he was tossed in the pool then, he would've easily just woken up!" Asahina retorted.

"Besides, upon examination, there wasn't any actual sign of struggle with Ishimaru, so the killer couldn't have tried forcefully drowning him anyway." Kirigiri added.

"...Wait, how does that work...?" Owada scratched his head.

"How does what work?" Kirigiri asked.

"I get the fact that he was killed at some point and probably thrown in the pool after. But like, how did the killer cause him to sink then?"

Kirigiri couldn't help but raise a brow at this. "Hmm?"

"Actually, Owada's right about that." Asahina agreed. "If you sink your whole body under a pool, chances are you'll end up staying down there if you don't swim out. Provided there's enough water in the pool, I mean."

"Aaaaaaaackk! I just realized something dude!" Hagakure stated in shock. "The killer would've had to personally drag Ish's body down there like they did Naegi's right? Wouldn't that mean the killer should be soaking wet?" He asked.

Everyone's mind was flipped upside down. Everything from beginning to end, none of this case made sense! It's like the more they discussed it, the more confusing it was starting to get.

None of them were wet, therefore none of them could have gone to the pool in said time, dried off, and came back. None of them have strictly solid alibis, so any one of them could potentially be a killer. And no one could explain the strange circumstances surrounding this case. It's like they were all going backwards from it!

"I got it!" Naegi said, trying to sound somewhat optimistically. "Why don't we look at everyone's scraps of paper from Monokuma's game? Maybe there's something to hint towards the killer?"

Despite her intent of optimism, she couldn't help but frown slightly at the growing silence. Everyone just looked at her, some only for a brief time, others with slight depression.

"W-What's wrong?" She asked, somewhat concerned.

"It's a nice gesture, Naegi, but we've already tried that." Celes stated.

"Huh?"

"We might as well show her anyway, it's not like she's seen them herself." Kirigiri commented.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement as they uploaded their scraps to the evidence program. Right now, no one knew truly about what to do, all they could do was keep everyone up to date for the time being. Taking a look for herself, Naegi read everyone's scraps, trying to piece together the information for herself.

Owada:

-Oogami is going to kill you.

-Your biker gang is history.

-There is a bomb somewhere in the school.

Fukawa:

-Your white knight is still alive.

-Naegi is going to kill you.

-Everyone will be poisoned tonight.

Yamada:

-Your real name is Herbert.

-There is no Easter Bunny.

-Fukawa is going to kill you.

Hagakure:

-Owada is going to kill you.

-Yamada is going to kill you.

-Fortune telling is a scam.

Asahina:

-Oogami is going to kill you.

-You will drown by tomorrow.

-There are no donuts left on Earth.

Kirigiri:

-Ikusaba is going to kill you.

-Naegi is working for the Headmaster.

-Your father is dead.

Oogami:

-Asahina will kill you.

-Your dojo is destroyed.

-Martial arts is a myth.

Celes:

-Your fortune has been destroyed.

-Hagakure is going to kill you.

-Ikusaba is a bisexual.

If Ikusaba had the opportunity to shoot Monokuma, or the person working behind him, she would've gladly taken it. Thankfully no one was looking at her, but her entire face lit up like a stop light after seeing the last comment. She knew perfectly well that her partner wrote it on purpose just to antagonize her.

"Wow..." Naegi mumbled, looking at all the data. "There's some really sad things on here." She commented.

"But not one of them have any possible motive for killing Ishimaru." Kirigiri responded.

"Without a reason for anyone to kill Ishimaru, no one, and everyone, is a possible suspect." Celes said.

"Well it's sadder for me, dude!" Hagakure cried. "Mine said both Yams and Wada were gonna kill me..." He whined.

"Upupupu!" Monokuma laughed. "Isn't the truth such a sad thing? But you know, when you really think about it, all truths are lies until you show proof. So if someone killed someone else, any of these could've been the truth. That's why, there's no such thing as truth in the world!"

"But how do we know that isn't a lie?" Ikusaba asked.

"..." Monokuma tapped his chin. "Hmm, good question. Upupupu! Looks like ya caught me in my own lie then!"

"Can we just move on from the fuckin' lies?" Owada grumbled, growing a slight migraine. Naegi continued examining the scraps over his e-Handbook until she noticed something.

"Huh? Hey wait, something's wrong here." She stated.

"What is?" Kirigiri asked.

"Where's Ikusaba's scraps?"

Ikusaba's eyes widened slightly in panic at the question, even more so as all eyes suddenly turned to her. She'd hate to say it, but Naegi was right. Her scraps were the only ones anyone had yet to see.

"Hey yeah, where are your scraps, chick?" Owada raised his brow.

Ikusaba could feel a lump forming in her throat, growing nervous from the peering eyes. She didn't kill Ishimaru, that much she knew for a fact. The issue was what was on the ones she swapped out of Naegi's- specifically, the one that said, "Ikusaba is a traitor."

She knew if she revealed that right now, not only would everyone KNOW she's a traitor since she swiped Naegi's at the time, but she knew indefinitely, that Naegi would never forgive her for lying about such a thing, even if she did let Naegi see the scrap from the beginning.

"O-O-Oh, t-that?" Ikusaba stuttered nervously. "E-Eh heh, umm...I t-think I lost it." She lied. It was blatantly obvious to half the group.

"Oh, now I'm smillin' shit." Owada gritted his teeth.

"I-I mean it! I-It must've happened when I dove into the pool for Naegi!" She insisted. Naegi couldn't help but frown a little. Part of her felt like Ikusaba was lying, but at the same time, another part of her was sure she was telling the truth. She didn't know which to believe.

"As someone who's accustomed to lies herself, I find this predicament a little too convenient for you." Celes commented.

"Perhaps you'd allow us to check you personally?" Yamada said with a cheeky grin.

"Perhaps you'd like to see what I use my knife I keep stashed on me." She grumbled back.

"Ack! I'm good, she's clean!" Yamada yelled in fear.

"But you gotta admit man, it's a little too fishy." Hagakure rubbed his chin with suspicion.

"Not to mention, some of those traps seemed a bit advanced for most commoners." Oogami said. "Bear traps are one thing, but I believe Celes detailed how you came across a room of explosives?"

"Indeed I did." Celes nodded with a smile.

Ikusaba partly felt her heart raced. If she did show them, it would at least prove to everyone that she wasn't the killer. But if she did, it would reveal she's working undercover for the headmaster at the same time. There was no way out for her in which she would win!

"I... I believe she's telling the truth!" Naegi said firmly, much to Ikusaba's surprise. Even Kirigiri was taken back by this slightly.

"Huh?" Hagakure mumbled.

"L-Look, I get it, people are suspicious and all. B-But if you're going to accuse her just because you didn't see her scraps, then you have to accuse me too!" She stated.

"N-Naegi!" Ikusaba was all but surprised.

"It's true! Nobody else saw my scraps either. S-So doesn't that make me a suspect too?"

She couldn't believe Naegi was trying to defend her like this. It wasn't just the fact she was trying to help her that got to her, but the fact there was truth in Naegi's words at the same time. Some of them have only heard of Naegi's scraps, but even then, they only heard of one of her scraps. And for all they know, she was lying.

"There is actually some truth in Naegi's words, you know." Celes twirled her hair in thought. "She's just as likely a suspect if we don't see her scraps."

"Well, just show us your scraps then." Asahina said. "You can't be a suspect then."

"Not until you stop suspecting Ikusaba. I-I trust her! I know she's not the killer." Naegi was positive.

_"Naegi..."_ Ikusaba couldn't help but be slightly in awe at the scene. Of all her times trying to defend Naegi herself, for once, Naegi was the one defending her. She did wish the result of defending her was a little less severe than this, but she couldn't help but be a little touched all the same.

She couldn't help but smile slightly at this.

_"I can't let you do this Naegi."_ She couldn't let Naegi suffer, especially not for her sake. Even if it did leave Naegi hating her, at least she would be alive.

"Everyone, you need to listen. I-"

"Hey, Ikusaba, I have just one question about your scraps." Kirigiri quickly interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Did you by any chance switch your scraps with one of Naegi's?" She asked with a simple smile.

"What?" Naegi herself was starting to grow confused.

"Well you can't blame her, Naegi. If one of those scraps had anything that might've hurt you at the time, I'm sure she would've tried to hide it from you." Kirigiri explained.

Even though this was an explanation for Ikusaba's scraps, everyone else was slowly starting to understand as well. After all Naegi's been through up to this point, it's only natural that Ikusaba would've tried to hide the fact. Even before she was drowned only recently, Naegi's had the hardest time out of everyone. Trying to help her is only a natural thought to some of her friends.

Ikusaba was anything but surprised. She knew Kirigiri's mindset, all about her way of thinking. Kirigiri fully knew that Ikusaba was about to reveal something. And she stopped her. Even when Kirigiri would've benefitted most from the information, she instead chose to help her. Did she even know what Ikusaba was going to reveal?

"W-Wait, what did it say?" Naegi asked. Even if she knew Ikusaba wasn't a traitor, she needed to know what Ikusaba was trying to hide from her. Ikusaba turned away from her, unable to look at her directly.

"I'll...tell you after the trial, Naegi. I promise." She said. Naegi frowned slightly. She did trust Ikusaba, but what was she trying to hide from her?

"Are you sure it's such a good idea to let her off the hook like that?" Celes wondered. "I mean, there is no guarantee that she actually DID switch her scraps with Naegi."

"And I agree with that." Kirigiri nodded with a smile. "However, I did realize one other issue that might prove my claim valid."

"Huh? And what would that be?" Asahina asked curiously.

"It's actually quite simple. If Ikusaba was capable of switching out her scraps of paper without Naegi even realizing, who's to say someone else didn't do the same thing?" Kirigiri asked looking around.

They hated to admit it, but she was actually right about it. Even if they showed each other their own paper scraps and whatnot, there's no guarantee they actually showed their own paper scraps. Especially if someone was unaware of it, then no one could say their own scraps were legitimate.

"So are we back to square one then?" Oogami looked to Kirigiri. "If we can't narrow down our suspects by using anyone's Scraps of paper in the game, then we have even less to work with than we thought."

"I got it dudes! Let's all agree to vote for ourselves! We're guaranteed to get the culprit then!" Hagakure suggested enthusiastically.

"Why would the culprit vote for themselves, they'd have to be an even bigger moron!" Asahina shouted somewhat annoyed.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help here dude! We got nothing else to go by!" Hagakure yelled back.

"It wouldn't matter for me, I'm still voting on your ass man!" Owada shouted angrily.

"Would you guys just calm down?" Ikusaba yelled at the three of them. "If we keep fighting amongst ourselves, we'll just waste time!"

The three continued glaring at each other for a short while before turning away. They wouldn't admit it, they all agreed on that fact, but they also disagreed at the same time. How could they continue with this trial while still having doubts between one another?

It wasn't just them, but practically everyone amongst them. No matter how they looked at one another, they were beginning to doubt everyone else surrounding them, or at least those not close to them. It was a strange feeling to say the least, but it also made it harder to determine who the culprit was. If they continued to doubt each other, it would only continue to fog and cloud their own judgment. It would hamper all their progress if things continued.

"So where do we go from here, dudes?" Hagakure asked. "All we know for sure is that Ishimaru wasn't in the room when the traps were made, and he wasn't in a struggle when he died."

"We don't even have that many clues for this case..." Asahina sighed with a frown.

"And above all, we don't even know how the killer set all this up." Yamada moaned.

Everyone was feeling a bit down about their current status. And why wouldn't they? What they discussed up to now were all events that proved to be either pointless, or didn't lead to any new facts leading to the killer. Everything that had gone on up to this point were either minor or extra details, or things they already knew for certain. Nobody had any information to add at this point.

...At least not until Naegi thought about it. She began fumbling around her coat pocket looking for something.

"What are you doing Naegi?" Kirigiri asked.

"I'm trying to..." She muttered. Her expression lit up slightly as she pulled out what she was looking for. "Ah, this thing." She revealed the gift Monokuma had given her earlier. "Any chance this could be useful?"

"What is it?" Owada asked.

Naegi eyed it curiously looking it over. "I don't really know, Monokuma just gave it to me. Some reward thing since I came back to life or something." She replied rolling her eyes.

"Hey! I put a lot of time and effort into that you know." Monokuma whined.

"You didn't even make it right!" Naegi retorted. "You just wrote month on top, 1 on each day, except for the 3 on the third week."

"...!" Kirigiri just had a sudden thought. "Wait, Naegi, what did you say?" Naegi looked back to her.

"Huh?" She looked over the calendar once more. "I just said he got the days wrong. It had a bunch of ones and one three. Why?"

"..." Kirigiri looked perplexed, and it was perhaps best for everyone's sake. Whenever she had something on her mind, whenever questions would be brought back to her, she was always on track for something. Even if there were unanswered questions that were yet to be revealed.

"Does everyone remember the night in which we all fell asleep?" She asked out loud.

"You mean the slumber party?" Naegi shrugged.

"And the guy's night out." Owada added.

"Does everyone remember how they fell asleep?" Kirigiri asked curiously.

There were a few questionable expressions on everyone's face. They all tried to think of the very night in which they all fell asleep, yet they couldn't. It was like the last few minutes of their nights were all erased from their minds. There was only one thing each of them could indefinitely remember.

"Well, there was that drink we had." Naegi replied. Owada looked at her a little surprised.

"Wait, you guys got one too?" He hadn't expected the girls to receive Monokuma's "Gift" as well.

"They weren't the only ones, I received the drink as well." Celes revealed.

Oogami nodded her head to confirm. "I received a bottle as well. It had an... interesting taste to it."

"I suppose we can assume Fukawa got one too?" Asahina guessed looking at her. She continued to remain silent, but the expression on her face, which had yet to change, said it all.

"I see..." Kirigiri paused for a moment. "Does everyone remember what happened after taking it?"

"I was wide awake and full of energy!" Asahina said happily.

"I actually did feel pretty good after taking it." Naegi agreed. "I thought I could've stayed up all night but," she tapped her chin staring into thought, "for some reason, a few minutes after, we were all out of it."

"Indeed, as refreshing as that potion was, I couldn't stay awake." Yamada scratched the top of his forehead trying to think.

"Refreshing my ass, man." Hagakure whined. "I tasted some of Ish's after I dropped mine. That stuff tasted like crap."

"Hey! I'll have you know I poured my heart out to satisfy each and every one of your personal tastes!" Monokuma growled. The heads turned to face him.

"What the heck did you put in that stuff?" Naegi needed to know as well as everyone else.

"Like I said. I put a little somethin' in there for all of your marvelous tastes!" Monokuma replied. "I might have put a bit of something else in there too, but I can absolutely promise you, it had nothing to do with your falling asleep." He assured.

"..." Kirigiri eyed him suspiciously. "What do you mean THAT didn't have to do with our falling asleep?"

"Oops, did I let that slip?" Monokuma grinned slyly. "Well if ya must know, I miiiiiiiight've messed with the school's filtration system after you guys drank your share of the potion."

No one could believe what they were hearing. They could believe it mind you, especially coming from him, but still.

"You sonavabitch!" Owada shouted. "You poisoned all of us last night!"

"So what if I did? And "poison" is such a harsh word. I just used a little knockout gas, made from my two beary own paws!"

"How is that even fair?!" Asahina stammered. "You put us all to sleep against our control!"

"Upupupu! I don't know what you're talking about." Monokuma chuckled. "Did I FORCE you all to drink it? Did I murder any of the students while you were all asleep? Did I plant the traps I provided the killer with?"

...

...

...

Monokuma began sweating nervously, scratching his head. "Uhhh maybe I shouldn't have added that last part..."

"Wait, you provided the killer with the traps?!" Ikusaba was appalled.

Out of all the things to possibly plan, she never expected her own partner to go that far with anything. This was supposed to be a fair game for all, to pit battles between hope vs despair, but in a fair and manageable manner! Even if what their partner said was true, this was beyond what she even expected.

At the same time, Kirigiri couldn't help but find Monokuma's behavior suspicious. There was something about this, the way he was "accidentally revealing" everything that truly egged at her. It was strange for him to reveal so much to a degree with them, but she didn't have that facts yet to argue.

"Oops! Did I say that out loud? My baaaad!" Monokuma smirked.

"You fucking ass!" Owada cracked his knuckle. "You're the one behind this aren't you!" 

"Upupupupu, I don't know WHAT you're talking about!" Monokuma chuckled. "Did I go out and decided to kill someone myself? Did I force the killer to kill anyone? All I did was provide the killer with the means to do so. The option was always up to them!" He raised his paw with cheer. "Now, let's get back to the trial, and without dragging me into it this time!"

"Gaaah!" Owada grumbled. "This is bullshit! This has Monokuma written all over it!"

"But he can't break his own rules, right?" Naegi reminded. "So he couldn't have been the killer."

"Well what's the point now?" Yamada moaned. "Even if they provided the means to the killer, we don't know anything new!"

"…Actually, we do." Kirigiri stated. Everyone's attention shifted to her with hope. "Thanks to Monokuma, I actually do have a rather valid idea of who the culprit might be."

'Y-You do?!" Owada gasped. "Well tell me! Who the hell is it?"

The stirring silence was truly putting everyone on edge. Each time they came across one piece of evidence, it always sent them back to the beginning like a never-ending loop. Now, they needed evidence to actually point to the killer, and one that hopefully didn't put them right back to the start.

Focusing her thoughts, Kirigiri took a deep breath, then turned to the one person she had in mind. "Owada, I believe we might owe you an apology."

Owada raised his brow. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"To be honest, the reason we've been so preoccupied in trying to catch the killer, is because we've been ignoring the evidence whenever it points to one person in particular." She pointed to the culprit directly.

"Isn't that right, Hagakure!"

"Ghh!" Hagakure's teeth chattered, his face in an expression of absolute fear. It only became more terrifying for the person as the other classmates turned to him.

"Hagakure?" Naegi said questionably.

"W-What's the meaning of this, dude?!" Hagakure screeched squeezing his head. "I thought we were all clear that it wasn't me!"

"It was never a fact that you weren't the culprit, Hagakure." Kirigiri replied. "We've only been denying that claim because, up till now, all the evidence would've proven your innocence. However, thanks to Naegi's Gift, it all actually fits perfectly then."

"My gift?" Naegi looked back to the Calendar in confusion. She couldn't figure out what was so evident about it. She knew it had to be something along the lines of the 3 that was circled, but other than that, she was-

"_Wait a minute_…" Naegi thought to herself for a short time. Slowly, the bright shine of realization slowly flew to her, giving her the information which she so dearly needed at this time. With a gasp, Naegi spoke. "That's it!" She announced.

"What's it?" Asahina asked tappign her chin.

"The reason we've been focused on thinking the culprit couldn't pull this off in one day? This thing answers everything!" Naegi announced. "We've been asleep for TWO whole days!" She declared, much to the shock of everyone else.

"We've been sleeping for two whole days?!" Yamada screamed.

Celes couldn't help but twirl her hair. "I guess given our lack of communication with the outside, it's not completely unreasonable to think our time in here could be off."

"Also, our only way to even tell the time within here is with the clocks." Oogami added. "Take that away, and we'd be completely oblivious of our time and day."

"B-B-B-But this doesn't mean anything dude!" Hagakure panicked. "Remember? I still had Ish's drink, right?"

"The hell you did man!" Owada yelled. "Even I get it too! You spat that stuff out the minute you chugged nearly half of it down your throat!"

"When you think about it, it could be more than that." Asahina commented. "I mean, maybe the flavoring wasn't the only thing made specifically for each of us. For all we know, the drinks could've been made to make a specific one of us fall asleep after drinking it!"

"Ding ding ding!" Monokuma cheered. "How right you are! I outta tell ya, that was the hardest part out of it with making the potions. Trying to perfect everyone's flavors, AND make the potion unnoticeable, that takes true consideration on my part."

"So he had plenty of time to make the traps, AND kill and drag Ishimaru to the bottom of the pool all at once!" Yamada stated proudly.

"…" Naegi couldn't help but lower her head at this. There was some strange feeling scratching at her head at this, but she couldn't figure out what.

"So, Hagakure, you got anything to say about this?" Ikusaba asked with a smirk.

This was it! They had all the facts they needed. Now they just needed Hagakure to admit to it!

"…"

"…"

"…Heh….eheheh….Hahahahahaha!" Hagakure was screaming with laughter.

…This was far beyond what anyone had actually expected from the shamanistic student. Hagakure tended to say stupid things at times. He tended to get his information wrong, and at times, be rather impulsive about the choice of words he had.

Yet, now of all times, he was laughing when it was most strange. He would normally be bawling his eyes out, screaming how it wasn't his doing. He shouldn't be laughing madly at a time like this, even if someone like him was actually insane. It didn't make any sense in the least, even though it was Hagakure they were talking about.

The only two on top of the fact were Naegi and Kirigiri. Kirigiri couldn't help but bite her lip. She knew there was something fishy about the way Monokuma "accidentally" revealed the extra information about the culprit and how they got the traps. It was like he actually _wanted_ them to figure out it was Hagakure, and she couldn't explain why.

The same went for Naegi at the time. She still couldn't piece together what was bothering her, but she knew that it was all the same. The way the trial had been proceeding, the way the clues only made things more confusing, everything. Even if she didn't understand it to a degree such as Kirigiri, it still proved that she was ahead of the others all the same.

"Hahaha, alllright dudes, ya caught me." Hagakure confessed(?). "I'm the one who killed Ish."

"You fucker!" Owada shouted. "I fucking called it you little prick!"

"Yeah yeah, make the threats ya want to man. I ain't scared of em anymore. Cause I know Monokuma wouldn't let anything happen in here, right 'Kuma!" Hagakure grinned to Monokuma.

"Hmm…" Monokuma hummed rubbing his chin. Hagakure could only feel little beads of sweat drop from his head.

"R-Right 'Kuma?" Hagakure asked again nervously.

"Hmm…" Monokuma hummed again.

"Right 'Kuma?!" Hagakkure panicked.

"Gahaha! Of course not ya idiot! I just wanted to see your expression if I remained silent." Monokuma chuckled. Hagakure sighed greatly in relief.

"Phew, don't scare me like that, man." He moaned. "Anyway, like I said dudes and dudettes, I am the killer! Feel free to vote for me anytime!" He cheered.

…

…

…

Everyone only had one thing on their mind:

Something was very wrong…

…

…

…

A/N: So, what's more confusing? When you try to make the most confusing culprit the killer, or when you keep trying to solve the confusing case behind the killer?...Geh, I'm getting confused just thinking about it X/.

Anyway, 4 revs to the next 10th mark ^^! Looking forward to who my next 10th will be!

Also apologize if bits of this are more confusing than it seems. Halfway through, I had to transfer this from freaking Yahoo cause the stupid site was having bugs or something and it was down for awhile, so I had to redo the rest from scratch. Don't blame me, blame the site : /

Anyway, let's see where this trial takes us! To Hope, Despair, or a heckavalot more confusion X/…?


	15. Confusion and Duuuh Trial 3 Part 2

A/N: Now, I'm hoping the last chapter left you guys Confused, as in having no idea how this trial would play out, and not like "Confuuuuused" where the whole thing felt random and stupid and half of you strangled yourselves for losing faith in me X/

I apologize in advance to that part. Part of the issue was, I wanted to keep the trial going and lengthen it. Problem was, the evidence which had to do with how everyone fell asleep and whatnot would've been a little too obvious as to who the crime pointed to. Naturally, I have a few little "schemes" myself here, but for the most part, part of the issue was trying to think of how to prolong the first part of the trial. Otherwise, if I brought up the evidence that made it obvious too early, this trial would've been more than half done by now. And you guys like it when I post nice and long chps, riiiiiiiight :P?...guys?

Well anyway, hope that explains some of the things from last chap, and apologize to those who've strangled themselves after losing faith. Now with that out of the way, ONTO THEE TRIAL!

…

…

…

"C'mon dudes, just vote for me!" Hagakure encouraged.

Nobody knew what to do at the time. For the moment, they were all positive that Hagakure was the killer. After discovering they were all asleep for two full days, had Monokuma provide weapons for the killer, and left Hagakure the only one out without a possible alibi, everything came together full circle.

Yet instead of cowering in fear and whatnot, Hagakure instead chose to confront them all and admit his own guilt. He was a terrible liar, and everybody knew this. Even Ikusaba for multiple reasons, and despite the fact she "just met" him. Right now, everyone was more concerned about what to do than voting for Hagakure as the killer.

"...Hagakure, what are you hiding?" Naegi asked slightly worried.

"W-What do you mean dude?" Hagakure replied nervously. He started scratching his own head. "I am, without a doubt, the 100% killer! No doubts about that."

"Except for the fact you are, by far, the WORST liar I've ever met." Celes stated.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about dudes! I'm just confessing my guilt!" Hagakure insisted. "Send a dead man off to die! C'mon!"

"You dumbass, quit spillin' shit and tell us what you're hiding!" Owada shouted. "I don't care if it is a rule, I'll crack your head open!"

"C-C'mon man, I'm being serious." Hagakure's nerves were obvious to everyone. "J-Just vote for me man, I swear it'll all work out..."

Oh ho!" Yamada cheered to himself. "Perhaps Master Yasuhiro Hagakure is trying to use reverse-psychology on us!"

"Exactly!" Hagakure agreed excitedly. "I'm using that reverse...psycha...morology...or whatever...It was my perfect plan!"

"I'd hate to say it, but Yamada might have a point." Oogami said. "This could all be some ploy to just get us to not vote for him."

"I'd have to disagree, Oogami." Celes replied. "I've seen my fair share of liars throughout my life. This is just plain stupidity, not lying."

"Hey, you could at least be nicer in a guilty man's final moments..." Hagakure whined.

"I don't suppose you have an idea on this?" Ikusaba asked Kirigiri. "I'm getting the feeling there is some truth to this, but not at the same time."

"It wouldn't be just you two, I feel the same way too." Naegi admitted. "He's practically egging us on to vote for him and him alone."

"But what would be the point?" Asahina tapped her chin. "There isn't anything benefiting him if he's lying and covering for someone else."

"Unless that's part of the plan." Celes replied.

"Huh?"

"Think about it, someone as laid back, lazy, ignorant as Hagakure-"

"I'm standing right here dude!" Hagakure cried.

"-he'd be easy to manipulate and control." Celes finished. "If someone lied to him about something, I'm more than sure he'd be willing to cover up and take the fall for them."

"I hope that isn't the case." Oogami replied. "If we're looking for the person who Hagakure happens to be covering up for, we'll be right back to not knowing again."

"But I keep telling you dudes, I'm the ki-"

"Hagakure, shut up." Kirigiri casually interrupted.

"So we're right back where we started? Great..." Ikusaba groaned rolling her eyes.

"Well don't we have any knew information out of this?" Yamada worriedly looked through the evidence. "We practically have nothing to go by!"

Ikusaba groaned a bit to herself. She had an idea she wishes she didn't have. "Well... There is one thing we can try." She spoke up. "We could... try identifying the killer from Naegi's death."

As expected, Naegi grew slightly surprised and tensed at this. To be forced to go back and talk about what happened in the way she died... It's an experience that no one would ever want to go through.

But even she knew they didn't have a choice. She lowered her head slightly with a small frown.

"Fine..." Naegi said.

"N-Naegi?" Ikusaba was a bit surprised Naegi was ok with this.

"It's the only way to find the killer right?" Naegi did her best to give a smile, despite the obvious pain in her eyes. "I-I mean it, go ahead."

"Naegi..." Ikusaba moaned quietly.

"We'll try to keep it from getting too personal, Naegi." Asahina tried comforting with a small smile. Naegi smiled a little, trying to do her best to keep from looking uncomfortable.

"So where do we start exactly...?" Naegi asked uneasily.

"Well... Why don't we trust your call on this?" Ikusaba asked. "Did anything happen to you that really stuck out?"

"Aside from being murdered dude!" Hagakure said with cheer.

"Hagakure!" Ikusaba shouted angrily, already knowing how much that alone pained Naegi. She didn't even need to see her wince.

As of this point Ikusaba, and secret Kirigiri, hated Hagakure. They both knew for a FACT that he did it on purpose. He knew perfectly well about Naegi's sensitivity to some things, and he was purposely trying to keep her from talking by any means necessary.

They were a bit surprised to be honest. Normally, he would say things at the wrong time just from accidentally saying something stupid at the wrong time. Now, he was purposely saying something stupid with an intention behind it. Hagakure was definitely unpredictable.

"I-I-It's ok. I get the point..." Naegi muttered, trying to act strong. Everyone knew it was straining her, but they still needed to continue. "A-Anyway, I-I can't really recall that much anyway. One of the things I do remember was that the trap wasn't like the others."

"What do you mean?" Kirigiri asked curiously.

"W-Well, like all the other traps. They were triggered by some string or weight thing, right? Well, for the one in the pool, there wasn't any." Naegi explained. "I-It was like someone activated it themselves."

"That's terrible!" Asahina yelled. "...Wait a minute," Asahina tapped her chin, "doesn't that mean the killer got passed us somehow to kill you?" Asahina asked.

"Passed you?" Celes asked.

"Yeah, Hagakure came to get me and Naegi..." Asahina frowned. "I... I thought Naegi was following behind us, but by the time we even made it to the first floor, I realized she was gone." She turned towards Naegi. "S-Sorry Naegi, this is all my fault."

Naegi gave her a small smile. "It's ok Asahina, it's not your fault."

"No..." She glared at Hagakure. "But it's his for sure!" She yelled.

"Eh?" Hagakure himself wasn't even sure what she meant.

"You told me you went back to go get her when you left! You said she wasn't there!" Asahina was yelling tears welling up in her eyes. She was convinced part of this was her fault for Naegi's death.

"Uhhh, w-well... Wahahaha! My ingenious plan to kill her worked too, dude!" Hagakure said proudly.

"Oh, you are FUCKING DEAD you bitch!" Owada's face was red with anger. Not only was he angry at Hagakure for making a girl cry, but if he truly was responsible for killing both Ishimaru and Naegi, then he was just about to lose it.

"W-What can I say dude? I'm a monster...Heh heh..." Hagakure chuckled again, but with less pride than he once had.

"You don't sound so sure of yourself now..." Kirigiri noted.

"W-Well...o-of course I'm sure." Hagakure poorly insisted. "I-It's just I've been repeating myself for who knows how long, ya know?" Kirigiri rubbed her chin while thinking. Something about the situation didn't feel quite right to her.

"Hey Asahina..."

"Yes?" Asahina replied.

"When Hagakure went back for Naegi...was he wet when he came back?" Kirigiri asked.

"Ah!" Asahina's eyes widened in realization. "Wait, that's right! He was perfectly dry!"

"Ahh!" Hagakure began to worry.

"Interesting. So how did Naegi end up drowning then if Hagakure never killed her?" Kirigiri wondered with a smile.

Naegi took the moment to think back. As painful as it was to recall, she had to figure out something, anything in her memories, that could help her with the current case. She still remembers the details perfectly, more or less due to the fact it only happened a few hours ago to her. After trying to clear her thoughts for several seconds, she realized it.

"Wait a minute…That's right!" Naegi exclaimed, remembering the scene clearly. "I think I saw him when I was drowning! I saw some figure standing above the pool looking down at me. This whole time I thought it was just the person who tried to kill me…" Naegi lowered her head a bit. "Or… at least did kill me…"

"But if it wasn't the killer, that means it had to be someone else who already found you like that." Kirigiri added.

"Eh heh…W-What's your point dude?" Hagakure scratched his head. "W-We're simply saying that I found Naegi like that. So what if I didn't help her? It doesn't change anything."

"I hate to say it but he has a point, Kirigiri." Asahina agreed. "All it tells us is that he didn't help Naegi when he found her."

For reasons the other couldn't explain, Kirigiri smiled, closing her eyes with a nod. "Exactly, and that, in turn, is the problem."

"Huh?!" Hagakure was even more worried.

"Yamada, do you remember last night when you were discussing "how to get away with the perfect murder" just for fun?" Kirigiri asked him.

"Ehhh…" Yamada muttered. It took him a few seconds until the lightbulb in his head dinged. "Ahhh! She's right! It doesn't add up!"

"It doesn't?" Ikusaba rubbed her chin, trying to get on the same track as Kirigiri and Naegi as much as possible.

"No! I remember the method perfectly! I came up with it myself!" Yamada claimed excited.

"Why do you sound so excited for a method that got Naegi killed?!" Asahina yelled slightly irritated.

"Ughh…sorry." He moaned, drooping in shame. Despite his excitement for realizing the killer didn't perfect his earlier plan, it sort of lost all meaning when he realized it killed another student. "But yeah, the plan isn't how I pictured it. In my theory, the killer was supposed to erase any evidence about the person drowning." He explained. "Hence forth, Master Yasuhiro Hagakure's claim is flawed."

"N-No it isn't! Hagakure retorted. "I-I just didn't want to get wet! I-In fact I already thought she was dead!"

"That actually makes less sense, Hagakure." Kirigiri stated.

"Q-Quit doubting me! I already confessed!" He shouted.

"I doubt you, because your claim that you didn't save Naegi cause she already drowned doesn't make sense." Kirigiri told him. "In fact, if Asahina saw you a little while after, it would've made more sense to be wet."

"Why do you say that?" Owada wasn't understanding, as well as a few others.

"Because if he really was the one who killed Ishimaru, saving Naegi would've been his perfect alibi." Kirigiri held up a finger as she continued. "The killer's method thus far was using the numerous traps and plans the boys planned from two nights ago. If Hagakure really was Ishimaru's killer, he would've saved Naegi instead." She explained.

"But how would that work? He'd be soaking wet after-" Owada tried to argue.

"No, I understand Kirigiri's words now." Oogami spoke up. "If Hagakure was trying to get away with a murder, he would have saved Naegi instead. If he left the rope in place, it would have left a piece of evidence behind, and it wouldn't add up with the murder plan at all."

"W-Wait, are you trying to tell me this ass isn't the killer?" Owada grumbled. "Naegi said herself, she saw Hagakure." Naegi looked to Owada somewhat worriedly.

"I never said I saw Hagakure directly though." She replied. "All I said is that I saw someone after my killer left."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute!" Hagakure yelled. "I-It still doesn't make any sense! I-I mean just because I didn't get wet, that wouldn't have proven I was innocent!"

"And your right, it wouldn't." Kirigiri admitted. "However, the fact you didn't do it at all proves that you're lying right now."

"Would you quit speakin' in riddles and riddles and just tell me what you mean!" Hagakure screamed squeezing his head.

"Fine, then I'll just get to my point." Kirigiri brushed the hair out of her eyes for a moment. "From my point of view, the reason the person didn't take the rope to remove evidence, is because they weren't fully aware of the extent of the plan." She pointed to Hagakure accusingly. "Which means, the person Naegi saw wasn't Hagakure, but someone else entirely!"

"AHHHHHH!" Hagakure pulled his hair in panic. Kirigiri smiled at the reaction.

"And I believe your response confirms this."

"N-No it doesn't! Hagakure shook his head madly. "T-This is all just baseless conjecture! You don't have a lick of evidence that someone else was there!"

"Actually, there might be."

"Lalalalalala! No there isn't!" Hagakure continued ranting, trying to distract Kirigiri to no avail.

"Asahina, do you remember exactly how long it took Hagakure to come back after he left?" She asked her.

"Well now that I think about it, it really wasn't too long." Asahina replied. "But I just thought he ran really quickly or something."

"Or perhaps somebody else managed to relay the information to him personally." She eyed Asahina curiously. "Asahina, did anyone happen to appear briefly after Hagakure's return?"

Asahina's eyes widened in shock. "Oh my god, you're right! But it wasn't just after he did, they came right with him when he returned!"

"What? Who?" Naegi questioned. Asahina pointed directly ahead of her trembling.

"I-It was Fukawa!" She announced.

"Huh?!" Fukawa gasped in surprise and fear.

For the first time since this trial even started, Fukawa actually made a sound with her mouth. The fact she said anything at all surprised everyone around her. Ever since the tragic loss of her "white knight", she's barely uttered a single word, much less a scream.

"You gotta be fuckin' with me." Owada was in disbelief.

"W-Wait a minute, what are you trying to say?" Fukawa looked all around.

"I think it's quite obvious what we're trying to say, Fukawa." Celes said with a simple smile. "You're the one who killed Ishimaru."

"W-WHAT?!" Her pupils shrank.

"N-No dude!" Hagakure denied this. "I'm the killer for crying out loud!"

"_Something isn't right here…_"Ikusaba rubbed her chin in thought.

"It was Fukawa?" Naegi wondered.

"If we're going by Kirigiri's word, then yes." Celes nodded.

"But that couldn't be right!" Oogami deemed. "I was guarding the halls the entire night. Not once did she ever come out."

"Which means she had no means of learning about the means of killing Ishimaru." Yamada stated. "If she did kill Ishimaru, she would've left something behind indicating it, or at least something indicating why Ishimaru drowned.

"Yeah, exactly!" Hagakure said with cheer. "She didn't know absolutely anything about our plans! Plus, she drank all of Monokuma's evil potion! She would've been out like a light!" He added.

Kirigiri's eyes flashed. "So… you're saying she would've been unconscious, right Hagakure?" She asked.

"Exactly dude!" He nodded. Too little too late did he just realize his own mistake. "W-Wait wait wait! I-I mean-"

"Hmph, thanks for telling me that." Kirigiri nodded to him gratefully. "Because it does tell me how she could've done it." She looked back towards Fukawa with certainty in her eyes. "Isn't that right, Genocider Shou?"

"Huh?!" There were gasps all around, minus Fukawa who shadily had her head down.

"You mean it was Genocider who killed Bro?!" Owada stammered.

"Kirigiri's reasoning isn't far off to be honest." Celes stared into thought. "If Fukawa switches to Genocider Shou after merely losing consciousness, it stands to reason that during the last couple days, Genocider Shou has been made to run freely."

"Even with the two days to himself, it would've been rather hard setting up all these traps by himself." Asahina added.

"Unless you have a rebuttal to this, Genocider, I suggest you speak." Kirigiri ordered.

All eyes were on Fukawa at this point. She had to say something, anything, to prove her wrong. If she wasn't the killer, then a bookworm like her should have a legitimate excuse. Even if it was a lie, for someone who has their face in the books constantly, she should have an adequate tale for them to try and unweave for later on.

"..Eh heh…" Fukawa chuckled slightly with her head down. Her whole body was trembling, her shakiness gradually increasing with each seconds. It was like watching a ticking time bomb go off as she suddenly began cackling with laughter. "Ahahhahahhhahaahahaaha!"

The all-too-familiar, slimy red tongue that everyone knew well, was revealed as Genocider's eyes lit up immediately. "Dun dun di dun dun duuuuuuuun! Hola mah bitches! Hahaha!"

"Eck! It's her!" Yamada screeched in fear. It didn't matter to much to him that the rules forbid her from attacking anyone in trial. Standing right next to a psychopath was the one thing no one wanted to experience, just like Yamada.

"Awwww…hell man…" Hagakure moaned crossing his arms.

"So then, you admit it, Hagakure?" Oogami asked.

"Huff, yeah man, I confess." He nodded. "It was Genocider dude."

"Well why the fuck were you taking the fall?!" Owada shouted "She was the killer, you were innocent! Why the hell weren't you sayin' anything?!"

"Err…Cause I have feelings for her?" Hagakure replied nervously.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Everyone just stared at Hagakure for this. Nobody could say anything though. After all, it WAS Hagakure they were talking about.

"So Genocider, why'd you do it?" Ikusaba asked.

"Do ya really have to ask, toots?" Genocider sneered with her typical long tongue. "I'd do anything for my white knight, whether dead or alive. Hell, I'd do it even if he ordered me from the afterlife!" She cackled once more.

"Order?" Asahina repeated confused.

"Hellz yes!" With the snip of her scissors she gestured towards everyone. "When it comes to me and my men, I'd give anything to be back with 'em. Just like this note said." Asahina raised her brow.

"Note?"

"The scrap of paper, remember?" Genocider reminded.

Everyone knew all too well what she was referring to, and it surprised none of them in the end. The one single scrap of paper which read "Your White Knight is waiting for you.". It practically told them everything they needed in terms of motive. But there were still a few questions left unsolved.

"So, were you the one who made the traps?" Celes asked.

"Indeedily!" Genocider said with a tongue-stretched smile. "You expect cactus patch over there to know how to plant the traps right?" She asked thinking back to two nights ago. "I swear to god, his traps were awful! Noose traps which wrapped around your feet, barricades that couldn't stick up. And it took him forever to figure out where to put everything." She explained.

"Hey! The thought just came to me, ok?" Hagakure whined. "You try building traps with no background experience!"

"So you two asses were the ones that killed bro!" Owada yelled.

Strangely enough, Genocider's brow raised at this. "Two?" Her tone was as questionable as her expression. "What do you-"

"Hey Genocider!" Hagakure quickly interrupted. "If you keep quiet for the rest of the trial, I'll personally take you to your white knight!"

"EMMMMMMMM!" Genocider squeezed her hands over her mouth, moaning with excitement and a brightened expression on her face. |

"Wait a mi-" Kirigiri tried speaking up.

"Well what do ya know! We got ourselves a murderous psychopath as our culprit!" Monokuma cheered. "If there are no other objections, let's begin the votes!"

There was an air of silence as everyone looked back and forth to one another. This entire trial was confusing from the very beginning, and now it was ending on a just as confusing note. The evidence all pointed to the suspects perfectly. The motives and alibis matched up with each other. And the proof and behavior of the suspects seemed too good to pass up.

So, the only question was, why was Naegi so concerned about this? There were still bits here and there that didn't stick out to her, but she couldn't specifically tell what. It wasn't just her own murder she couldn't ignore, but the murder of Ishimaru. For some strange reason, it kept coming back to her repeatedly, as if Ishimaru himself was contacting her from beyond the grave to tell her something. But what was he trying to say?!

Kirigiri and Ikusaba weren't any better off. They both had the same feeling- this trial was going a bit too easy for something set up by Monokuma. Since the trial began, Hagakure's behavior has been unpredictable. He goes from admitting his own guilt, to pinning the guilt on Genocider, and now he won't even let her speak. It was as if this was all planned.

The only trouble was, what WAS the plan? None of them cold figure it out!

"Well then, if no one has any objections, please cast your votes into the ballet in front of you!" Monokuma announced. "Who will be tonights villain?! Will it be right, or will it be oh so wro-"

"**WAIT**!" Naegi suddenly shouted. Monokuma couldn't help but growl ferociously.

"Grrrrrrrrrrr!"

"What's wrong, Naegi?" Ikusaba asked. Naegi turned away with uncertainty.

"I-It's just…" She started rubbing her chin. "S-Something about this doesn't make much sense to me."

"What doesn't make sense?" Yamada asked.

"Dude, just forget about it." Owada told her. "Genocider's the killer, and she went for bro."

"Plus it makes sense dude, what with the whole guys-only rule she has." Hagakure added.

"You just shut the fuck up!" Owada glared angrily. "I'm dealing with you once this is over!"

"F-Fine…" Hagakure groaned again.

"B-But something doesn't make sense to me!" Naegi yelled with slight panic.

"Does it involve your murder or Ishimaru's?" Kirigiri asked. "Remember, we only needed to find Ishimaru's killer, not yours."

Naegi frowned lowering her head. "I… I know but…"

Ikusaba stared at her in thought. She trusted Naegi with all her heart, just as much as Kirigiri did. The only thing she was questioning was what Naegi was concerned about. She was incapacitated for most of the investigation, so she shouldn't have any other access to facts outside the trial. Hell, her partner worked with her, and even they wouldn't tell Ikusaba most of the details to the trial!

So what was it about this case that was bothering her as much as Naegi?

"…I think we should let Naegi speak." Ikusaba recommended. Naegi smiled a bit to her, thankful she had someone on her side.

"B-But…w-we got all the facts now man." Hagakure stated. "We ain't got time for talking about Naegi's horrifying, bleak, and suffocating drowning experience." The way he worded her own death was enough to make Naegi shake with fear. She forced herself to close her eyes, trying to maintain her composure for the trial.

As for Ikusaba, she was furious. "Fucking say that again, and I swear…" She threatened.

"I can say it as many times as you guys want!" Hagakure cheered. "You can't lay a finger on me!"

"I can say it toooooo!" Monokuma said, siding with Hagakure.

"Just let Naegi say something, please?" Asahina pleaded. "You shouldn't have to worry too much Hagakure if it's Naegi speaking right?" She gave a small wink to Naegi who smiled mentally.

She knew Asahina wasn't saying that to actually sound mean at all. She wanted to ensure Hagakure would feel confident enough to actually take the bait. She would trust her friend way before she'd trust Hagakure, even before he started acting a little crazy.

And as expected, the bait worked.

"Weeeeeeeell," Hagakure groaned rubbing his neck, "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

"Any objection from you, Genocider?" Celes asked.

"Mmhhhh hmmm." Genocider moaned into her hands, shaking her head.

"So whats on your mind, Naegi?" Asahina asked with a smile. Naegi shifted her eyes away as she tried to think.

"W-Well… We haven't figured out the whole piece about why Ishimaru wasn't in the lunchroom for starters." Naegi spoke.

"Why does that involve anything?" Yamada asked.

"Well…I mean just think about it." Naegi gave her thoughts. "All of us woke up at about the same time, right? So… Why wasn't he in the lunchroom this morning?"

That actually did take some people back for a bit. Everyone else had woken up at relatively the same time, but for some reason, Ishimaru was the only one who truly was missing.

"Didn't Hagakure or Fukawa bring him to the pool after he died?" Kirigiri asked.

"W-Well… Yeah, but why then?" Naegi was even more confused. "If they had wanted to kill him while he slept, what would be the point of the traps then?"

"Ah!" Kirigiri gasped quietly in realization. She hadn't even considered that when they discovered Ishimaru's body, much less at any point after the incident this morning. _Why am I so distracted recently?_ She asked herself.

"Upupupu! Oooooh, and now we have a twist, don't we?" Monokuma had a sly grin as he said this. Kirigiri's nerves were getting more and more unsteady.

_Why is he pushing us like this?_ Something was definitely wrong. She knew it. She just couldn't tell what.

"Why are you bringing this up dude?" Hagakure asked nervously. "We already solved the case, Kawa did it, we win..."

"I wonder..." Celes muttered. "Say Hagakure, why did you bring Ishimaru's corpse to the pool?" She asked with a calm smile.

"Huh?" Little drops of sweat rolled down the back of his head.

"Well, it's just that I'm curious and all." She had a lewd smile. "Of course, bringing Ishimaru's body to the pool must have been your grand idea. After all, I can only think of one reason why'd you do this."

"O-Oh!" Hagakure scratched his head worriedly. "E-Errr I m-mean of course! Y-Yes, yes I do! Of course I had an idea...eh heh..." He was starting to grow increasingly nervous. "It uhh...i-it was to the umm...do that thing and...all.." He muttered trying to think.

"I'm sure shift the suspicion to the other boys, wasn't it?" She asked knowingly.

"I-It was?" Hagakure was really starting to worry. "I-I mean y-y-yeah dude, o-of course it was! Haha, my plan worked...heh heh...ehh..." He stuttered.

"Oh Hagakure, your lies are pitiful in comparison to your perseverance." Celes commented.

"Huh?"

"So Naegi, what's bothering you so much about this?" Asahina asked curiously. "There has to be something if you still doubt all this."

"W-Well..." Naegi pulled out her e-Handbook, looking slightly worried as she looked over the evidence. "I-I don't know entirely why...I-It's just...Something about the scraps of paper and all...It's bothering me for some reason..."

"Ack!" Hagakure screeched. "N-No there's not! It's all in your head!"

"Shut up and let her speak!" Ikusaba ordered angrily.

"Eat me! I'm trying to help you guys believe it or not!" Hagakuer shouted back.

"So what was bothering you now, Naegi?" Ikusaba asked with a sweetened smile.

"Mmh..." Naegi moaned to herself.

There was something right there, she know there was! But it had to be something here, or else they wouldn't ever figure out the truth behind this murder. Even if her friends didn't realize it themselves, she felt like she was the only hope her friends had at this point. She practically knew things would end terribly otherwise.

By the time she thought _The pressure is killing me!_, that's when something clicked with her.

"Hey...Ikusaba?" Naegi spoke up looking to her.

"Yes Naegi?" She replied curiously.

"Umm..." Naegi frowned slightly lowering her head. "I'm... I'm not gonna ask you about what it said on the scraps you took," she turned back to her, "but what scrap did you replace mine with?"

"O-Oh!" Ikusaba was slightly irked by the question.

It had nothing to do with Naegi herself, she didn't mind the fact she actually asked her the question at all. What did irk her was what the answer to said question; it would've caused a bit of tension between the two, yet at this point, she knew she didn't have a choice at this point.

"W-Well..." She turned away nervously as she spoke. "I-If you must know, I sort of...replaced yours with the one that said _Kirigiri is going to kill you_." She answered.

Looking back at a particular person, she could easily see Kirigiri's angry, flustered, expression. Even if she held it in, she and Kirigiri had a "Hate/Hate" connection with one another, so she could easily read what was on Kirigiri's mind. She cleared her throat after awhile, wanting just about anything to change the subject.

"S-S-So why were you wondering, Naegi?" Ikusaba asked slightly nervous.

"So if that's the one you gave me...Ah!" Naegi yelped in realization, quickly messing with the e-Handbook as she scrolled through everything she needed. "I got it! That's the thing that's bugging me!" She stated.

"What do you mean?" Kirigiri asked.

"The scraps! Look back at Hagakure's!" She told everyone. The fellow students looked back to their e-Handbooks, even Hagakure seeing how he had no idea what it meant.

There it read:

Hagakure:

-Owada is going to kill you.

-Yamada is going to kill you.

-Fortune telling is a scam.

"W-What about it dude?" Hagakure started to worry once more. He could easily feel a lump forming in the back of his throat.

"Hagakure," Naegi mumbled, setting down her e-Handbook, "where did you get the other lie?"

Hagakure's pupils shrank. "O-O-Other?"

"Hey, chick? I don't mind this and all, but could you at least tell me what the problem is?" Owada requested. He's gone from angry, confused, more confused, angry, and then just repeated endlessly.

"It's just the thing that's been stuck on my mind." Naegi replied. "Everyone here got a scrap with at least one lie saying how someone would kill one of us, right? But if Ikusaba just proved there can only be one lie about getting killed, then where did Hagakure get the second scrap from?!" Naegi stammered.

"Aacck!" Hagakure was pulling on his own hair in panic. This was not at all how he planned on things to go.

"Hey yeah!" Asahina agreed, giving Hagakure a stern look. "There shouldn't be any extra lies like that on hand, Hagakure."

"That's absolutely correct!" Monokuma confirmed joyfully. "Each student received a single lie about getting murdered."

Kirigiri squeezed the chest of her coat tightly, gritting her teeth.

_Why the hell is he telling us this? He's being way too helpful all of a sudden!_ She screamed in her head. She pinched herself between the eyes, looking deeply in her thoughts as she tried to find the answer.

"E-Eheh heh..." Hagakure chuckled sweating. "I-It's no biggie dude. I-I just took Ishmaru's...Y-Yeah, that's it!" He nodded reassuringly. "I took them off of Ishimaru after he drowned!"

"After he drowned?" Ikusaba lowered her gaze. "Now I see what else was bothering Naegi on this! You shouldn't have your scraps in a plain condition like that. They should've fallen out or be wrecked like Naegi's was when she drowned." She explained.

"Huh." Naegi tapped her chin. "I guess it wouldn't have mattered then if I wanted to show mine or not earlier." Naegi smiled a bit cheekily. "I just realized they would've been in my other clothes anyway."

"T-T-This is all nothing!" Hagakure screamed angrily. For once, everyone was actually surprised by his furious new expression. His entire face was face was red as he was squeezing the podium with rage. You could actually hear small crackling sounds from the wood as he squeezed it. "Damn it guys, just vote for one of us!" He shouted.

"H-Hagakure?" Asahina hesitated calling his name.

"If you guys don't vote for me, you're all gonna pay! I mean it!" He yelled.

Naegi frowned slightly, both from how frightening his new expression was, and how strange he was acting. She could almost swear he was telling the truth, but she couldn't figure out why he was so serious about this.

"I hate to sound disagreeable, but there's one thing still bothering me." Oogami brought up. "What does it mean?"

"Huh?" Naegi wasn't sure what she meant.

"If he got it before Ishimaru was murdered, how would it change anything?" Oogami asked in more detail.

"Y-Yeah, that's right dude! It means nothing!" Hagakure added. "Why would it matter when I got the scrap? It changes nothing!"

Naegi opened her mouth in order to speak...but she couldn't say anything. It confused her too. She didn't know the full details of everything either. She only knew what was bothering her about the scraps, but not the reasoning behind it. Whatever it was, she was certain it was the truth behind the case.

"I... I don't know..." Naegi frowned. "I... I don't know, I guess... When did he get it earlier then?" She closed her eyes tightly trying to think.

"Why would that matter then?" Yamada rubbed his chin. "If he got it at all, I'm not sure what it would mean."

"...!" Naegi's eyes widened. "I get it now..." She muttered. With her head held high, she looked at the surrounding students. "What if Ishimaru woke up earlier than the rest of us?" She could see the nervous twitch in Hagakure's eyes, but he was doing his best not to utter a word.

"Early?" Celes twirled her hair. "Would that even matter at any point?"

"Y-Yes, I'm sure!" Naegi nodded with confidence. "I mean, w-what if he woke up in the middle of all this and found out Hagakure's plan?"

"Wouldn't that mean he woke up in a day then?" Asahina noted. "You know, if it was like in the middle of everything."

"Middle?" The word struck Owada in the mind, pushing into his brain after a few moments. "...Oh fucking Christ god damn it I'm a dumbass!" Owada shouted angrily. The rest were surprised Owada would say anything so suddenly.

"W-What's wrong?"

"I remember now!" Owada yelled. "It was that guy's night two days ago!"

_***Flashback***_

_Seeing how his own "bro" was satisfied with the drink, Owada gave a shrug as he took a large gulp of it too. Wiping his face off a bit, he smiled. _

_"Damn! This shit is great!" He cheered, continuing to gulp down the liquid inside. Yamada eyed the bottle carefully, but proceeded to take a drink from it as well. He met with the same result._

_"Wow! I feel like I could go a round with Master Sakura Oogami herself!" He said with pride._

_"Gawwwwww!" Hagakure could only groan, seeing the amazing reaction the drink was giving the others. He continued pulling at the bottle harder and faster, wanting a glimpse of the heaven they were taking. "C'mon you stupid piece of-"_

_*CRASH*_

_"NOOOO!" Hagakure cried._

_Even with his carefulness, his strength proved too much for him. With one last pull, he managed to pry the bottle off of his finger, much to his joy. However, said joy only lasted a second before he realized the bottle had slipped from his grasp, falling straight down from excess force and shattering upon the floor with drama._

_"Noohohoohoo!" Hagakure cried on his knees. "I never even got a taste!"_

_"Worry not, Hagakure! You can share mine!" Ishimaru said, offering his bottle to Hagakure. Hagakure sniffled a bit before wiping his face._

_"T-Thanks Ish, you're a lifesaver!" He shouted, gulping down nearly half the bottle in one go._

_"Woah, hey! Take it easy, that still belongs to bro!" Owada shouted slightly angry. However, much to everyone's surprise, Hagakure's expression changed from a simple glimpse of heaven, to that of disgust and sickness._

_*PFFFFFFFFFFFT*_

_"Blegh!" Hagakure spat the liquid from his mouth, actually seeming much more relieved once it was out of his mouth. "This is disgusting! What the heck is that man?!" Hagakure moaned, handing the bottle back to Ishimaru. "You can keep it Ish, that's not worth drinking even if I was dying from dehydration." He firmly stated._

_Ishimaru looked at the bottle a little surprised. "Strange... Perhaps it's an acquired taste?" Ishimaru shrugged._

_***Flashback end***_

"Bro only had half the bottle to drink! He didn't have the whole thing!" Owada revealed.

"Lalala, it doesn't mean anything!" Hagakure was ranting once more, trying to drown out the noise.

"Or maybe it doooooes..." Monokuma teased.

After all this time, Kirigiri's eyes widened in horror. She finally realized what everything meant up to this point. Sadly, it was all too late.

_Noooo..._ She moaned to herself.

"Huh! I get it now!" Asahina exclaimed. "We all fell asleep for two days straight because we all drank our entire potion! But if Ishimaru only had half-"

"Then that means he woke up the next day, and found out what you did!" Yamada finished.

"No..." Naegi frowned lowering her head a bit. "I... I think it was more complicated than that."

"How was it more complicated?" Celes wondered.

"Well... When you think about everything that happened...d-doesn't this all seem a bit...organized?" She hinted. Even for a girl, Owada couldn't help but squeeze his fist.

"W-Whoa...Hold on a minute...A-Are you actually suggesting...?" Owada grumbled. Asahina tilted her head.

"I... I don't think Ishimaru was entirely the victim here." Naegi deemed. "I think he was part of Hagakure's planning."

All sound went silent at this point. Nobody, no matter how crazy things got, or how insane people were acting, no one saw this piece coming. After all this, they were all sure that Ishimaru was the victim here, never a perpetrator. And how would they at this point?!

This all started with a single, seemingly-typical, murder, as the result of a trap. After that, it went on to Naegi herself being murdered, and everyone believing there were two murderers involved. Following that, throughout the trial, everyone came to the conclusion that Hagakure was the killer. If it wasn't for his terrible lying skills, this would've been exactly where everyone would've stopped to vote

From there, they all organized their information, looking throughout the court records again, re-investigating all the evidence they came across, and so on. Because of it, they later revealed Genocider Shou's involvement, yet things didn't end there either.

And now, after all of this, they find out that Ishimaru himself, was no more innocent than Hagakure or Genocider was.

"You...You've gotta be joking me..." Owada groaned rubbing his head.

"Upupupu..." Monokuma chuckled grinning.

"So Ishimaru...partially killed himself?" Asahina questioned. Naegi looked away.

"I guess...when it comes down to things...it was actually an accident." Naegi spoke sadly a bit. "I don't know exactly when, but I'm guessing at some point, Ishimaru must've woken up and discovered Hagakure's and Genocider's plan. Instead of confronting it though, he joined in for some reason."

"That does make sense I guess." Ikusaba stared into thought. "With how all the traps were organized and set up, it had to be due to Ishimaru's involvement. I mean, if Hagakure or Genocider planned anything, chances are their idea involved placing all the traps in the same general area bunched up together, not spread around."

"You know me so well!" Genocider laughed. "So, if we're screwed, do I have to keep my mouth shut still?" She asked with a cheeky grin.

"Huff, forget it man." Hagakure could only groan. "It's over."

"So, you're admitting defeat then?" Oogami assumed.

"Yeah, yeah, it's over." Hagakure nodded. "I give up, alright? All of us made the traps together so there wouldn't be any accidents."

"But I'm guessing there WAS one?" Naegi suggested.

"Mmmh... It wasn't anything man, honestly." Hagakure whined. "W-We were setting up the net trap over the pool, ok?"

...

...

...

_"Ghhhh it's too heavy!" Genocider complained, trying to lift the weighted net to the wall. Ishimaru sighed. _

_"It only weighs ten pounds above surface." He stated. _

_"I think my bones are creaking!" Genocider panicked. _

_Despite the rather lowe weight, she appeared to be struggling to no end. To be fair, the size and weight of the net was distributed unevenly all around the net. She had to go back and forth all around to keep the net from coming off the triggering mechanism. It was rather embarrassing for the two guys who had once feared the almighty psychopath only a few hours ago. _

_"I guess we should go and help her dude?" Hagakure shrugged. Nodding back to him, Ishimaru and Hagakure casually walked to Genocider's side. She moved to her left, making room for Ishimaru to take the middle, and ending with Hagakure taking the right. _

_"You sure this would get 'Hina dude?" Hagakure asked as the three continued lifting. _

_"I'm positive." Ishimaru assured. "The traps were set up to specifically target each of the students based on their activities." _

_Hagakure turned is head to the right. "What about Ogre, dude? It doesn't matter what kind of trap you have for her, I'm sure she'll break through it." _

_"Haha! Never fear!" Ishimaru gloated. "We only need enough traps for one of them to fall in, not everyone, remember?" Ishimaru looked up as he stared into thought. "By my guess, one of them will fall for a hallway trap, and they'll assume from that point that the hallways are armed. After that, we just need to wait for awhile, then we can disarm the traps in the rooms without causing too much suspicion." He explained. _

_"I know dude, I know, but wouldn't it be easier to just do one of 'em in right now?" Hagakure asked. Genocider looked to the two with excitement._

_"Ya want me to __**DO**_ _somebody?!" She asked ecstatically._

_"NO!" The other two quickly shouted._

_"So what do we do with the guys downstairs then?" Hagakure had to ask. They have become closer friends with the others. _

_"Hmph, no need to worry. We already got that covered too, remember?" Ishimaru reminded. _

_"I know, I know, I'm just not entirely sure about it is all." Hagakure sighed. "I mean, what if they do get hurt?"_

_"Even if they set it off, it's just a bear trap. Worse comes to worse, they'll break a bone. Not as bad as dying." Ishimaru retorted. _

_As the two continued to gossip and chat, neither were aware of Genocider's sudden curiosity. _

_"Eh? Hey, who's that?" She spoke out walking away. Ishimaru only took one glance at her before he panicked. _

_"W-Wait! Genocider don't-!" He tried warning._

_*twing* _

_"Eh?" Genocider lowered her loopy-tongued face to the ground after hearing the sound. She just remembered where she placed the trigger for the trap to the pool._

_"MOVE!" Ishimaru shouted, quickly pushing Hagakure off to the side._

_"Waaah!" He yelped, landing painfully on his head a few feet from Ishimaru. Before he could ask why, he was already gone._

_*SPLASH*_

_***End Flashback***_

"By the time he pushed me away, it was already too late." Hagakure moaned. "We took the scraps out earlier and left them in the lunchroom, dude. That's why they never got wet."

"You fuckers just left him like that?!" Owada shouted.

"No, dude, you don't get it!" Hagakure moaned again. "We did try to get him to save him, honest!"

"But as science teaches ya, you're 50% slower and weaker while underwater!" Genocider chuckled with a looped-tongue.

"It took us nearly two hours yesterday to get him out of there yesterday. He was gone man."

"Gehhhh..." Owada could only squeeze his fist angrily.

He had no idea how to feel. He was made beyond reason that Hagakure was the killer in the end of all things. At the same time though, he wasn't one-hundred percent sure he could be entirely made at him either. After all, Ishimaru was behind part of the plan as well. No matter how much he didn't want to believe it, it was the truth.

"So in the end, Ishimaru was no better than the average killer." Celes commented.

"How can you say that so calmly?!" Asahina shouted angrily. "He was our good friend too you know!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Celes apologized with a calm smile. "I'm just basing this off the fact our last two so-called "friends" ended up being killers as well. Just so we're both clear, how does that make this any different?" She asked.

"Ghhh." Asahina could only groan as well. She was right no matter what she said about it. Ishimaru was trying to kill them all the same.

"I just still can't believe though... Ishimaru of all people..." Yamada moaned with his arms drooped over.

...

...

...

"Then...who do we vote for?" Asahina asked. Everyone looked to her, feeling as if they had no idea what she meant. They were too deep in their own thoughts to pay attention.

"What do you mean? We just vote for these two, right?" Naegi answered.

"Upupupu..." With that, everyone's attention changed once more. And soon, all their hope would shatter all the same. "Gyahahahahahhaaaaaa! What do you mean two?" He asked sarcastically.

"W-What do you mean by that?" Naegi was starting to worry.

"We can't..." Kirigiri muttered. She had her head lowered with her fists at the top of the podium. She was shaking, but as to whether that was anger or fear remained unanswerable. "We can't...vote..." Her voice was shaking in itself.

"Oooooh, did Kirigiri realize it too?" Monokuma smirked wickedly.

"What do you mean we can't vote?" Asahina asked confused. "We just vote for Hagakure and Genocider. Four for each of them, right?"

Ikusaba was starting to tense up too. She knew her partner's wicked, twisted, mind. She just now realized her partner had something terrible in store for them.

"I-It'll be fine, Kirigiri." Naegi said with a calm smile. "We'll just assign four of us to vote for one, and four of us to vote for the others!"

"You don't understand!" She nearly shouted. She had to hold herself from shouting directly at her Naegi. "T...There isn't...There isn't two killers in this case..."

"What? Are you saying Genocider and Hagakure are not the killers then?" Oogami asked.

"No...It's not that..." Kirigiri was frozen for awhile, unable to force herself to speak. The revelation she just had both shocked and astounded her, and she knew there was no going back from this point.

"I guess you get it too, dude." Hagakure frowned, saddened.

"What are you two talking about?" Naegi asked looking back and forth.

"Well, if you'll allow me to do the honors, I'd be happy to announce it!" Monokuma volunteered excitedly.

"What's going on here? Why are you guys acting weird?"

"Well, little Naegi," Monokuma's mechanical eye zoomed in on her, the controller of him drooling from the mouth as she saw Naegi's face, "if you must know, the answer is simple. There's not two measly killers here, but three! Or did you forget poor Ishimaru?" He announced to everyone's surprise.

"You bastard! How dare you include bro into all this!" Owada's face tightened.

"Well it's true! A person who takes their own life is truly the most sadistic killer of all!" Monokuma replied.

Asahina stared into thought for a moment, counting with her fingers. "Ok, wait...that's three killers then..." She startled mumbling quieter. "Then...for them...!" Asahina's eyes widened in horror. "Ahhhhhh!" She screamed.

"Bonus points to the fish girl!" Monokuma cheered. "And you'd be right to be afraid! After all..."

_**"There's an uneven amount of required Majority Votes!"**_

...

...

...

A/N: Ooooh the twists of all twists... You know, I wonder what would happen in the game/series if a case ever came up where they had a more than one person as the killer at the same time? They HAVE to get that added into the next game big time, it would really add suspense!

And for those who don't say this idea actually counts as legit, just think about it; if you made/set up a trap at the EXACT SAME time as another person(s), then I'm more or less sure it counts as murdering someone at the same time :l Like stabbin' a knife into someone with two people holding it at the same time...Ooohhhhh, just got another idea for my next fanfic murder :P...NO STEALING!

Also, shout out to both Westerner and Explosive kingdom (btw, westerner is the guy who always left long revs in case you're wondering). I know it hasn't (I think?) reached 30th or another 10th review mark and all, but I just wanna thank these guys personally for their support, as well as keeping active and up-to-date with my fanfics. Nice to have fans to chat to ^^

Anyway, how will this stunning trial end?! Read to find out!...after I update it again...(unless a 10th mark has been placed, in which case, I'll be happily doing a bonus ep again :P!)


	16. Confusion and Duuuh Finale

A/N: Well guys, it's time. That time when I sacrifice seventeen children and reap their souls for the almight Lord Satan and-!...oh wait a minute...this message was for my Cult I have after this...NEVERMIND WHAT I SAID!

Anyway, time to reach the epic conclusion of this fanfic! How will things end? How will a solution be reached? Will Oprah ever return to TV?!...well I'm not so concerned about that last part since I Never started watching it to begin with, but who cares.

Anyway, ONTO THE STORY!

...

...

...

"Wait, what do you mean we don't have enough votes?!" Ikusaba stammered.

"Dawww, didn't someone teach you math when you were little?" Monokuma teased. "Allow me to explain then! For you guys to truly reach a majority vote, you'd have to have an even set of 3 votes to each person! One for Hagakure, one for Genocider Shou, and one for Ishimaru himself!" Monokuma explained.

And he wasn't wrong on that either. Only moments ago, the group had finally solved the case, and had just determined that this wasn't just a typical murder case at all- this murder involved 3 separate killers at the EXACT same time!

How does such a thing happen when only one person is involved? That is an interesting question.

You see, earlier on in the day, the schoolmates discovered that various traps have been spread throughout the entire school itself. Following Naegi's near-death experience, one of which actually worked save for the life-giving CPR by Ikusaba herself, the school found out that Ishimaru himself had been murdered, drowned in the school's pool himself.

After some thorough investigating, the trial had proceeded as normally as possible. That really wasn't saying much though, due to the lack of direct evidence. The main evidence they had to work with was the numerous traps they encountered throughout the school. As simple as that may sound, it was actually more of a setback than one would assume.

Despite how many traps there were, there was no set pattern or background as to how the traps were placed and set up. Hence forth, the evidence the group had to work with was as vague as the traps were plenty. The only things they were assure of were the details they could gain from evidence outside Ishimaru's murder.

And the only way to do that, was to examine it from Naegi's point-of-view as she was being murdered.

This ended up being a true blessing in disguise by the end of things. At the end of the grueling long trial, they discovered that Hagakure and Genocider were apparently awake during the last two nights which everyone was put to sleep, in no small part thanks to Monokuma's intervening. With traps he also provided for the young students, they all had the required crafting materials and mechanics to booby-trap the entire school, from the first floor to the third.

However, things didn't go as simple as they appeared. Nearing the end of the trial, after much confusion and debating had passed, a startling secret was revealed: Ishimaru was also responsible for his own murder. Having awoken earlier than the rest of the school, due to being asleep for only half the time, he also took part in Hagakure's plan. Because of this, this marked him as the third and final killer of his own murderer.

So, you would assume things went right and easy with the voting immediately after, right? Weeeeell you'd be wrong. As always, which Kirigiri discovered too late, a majority vote is always required for the final vote. The problem? There were three killers to vote for, among ten students, and among those ten, two of the votes were the killers themselves.

"To simplify everything in an even more understandable language," Monokuma continued, "you would need 1 of your killers to vote with you, and for the other killer not to vote for himself, the other killer, or Ishimaru. Even if you had both of them help vote, one way or another, the tallies would count 4, 3, 3, and because of that, the majority vote would still be void!"

"T-That..." Naegi's eyes were hallow, along with many other students.

They couldn't believe what they were hearing. From the very beginning, Monokuma had this planned out. He knew right from the start that there would be no way for them to get out of this alive. Why else would he "accidentally" release so many hints and comments during the trial? A factor which Kirigiri discovered as the trial progressed.

"That's...That isn't fair..." Naegi simply said. She couldn't tell how she should be acting at this moment. To sum up their situation, everyone's hopes relied solely on the killers themselves. That would mean they sacrifice their lives for them.

Fat chance.

"Gyahahahaha!" Monokuma laughed victoriously. "Nothing unfair about it! Those are the rules!"

"That's fucking bullshit..." Owada grumbled.

"I will not allow this..." Oogami squeezed her fist in rage.

"So for us to survive..." Asahina couldn't even bring herself to finish, her eyes quivering with fear.

"Thaaaaaat's right!" Monokuma gloated. "You would need a perfect 3-way vote!"

"Did somebody say **Three-way**?!" Genocider grinned excitedly.

Fortunately, or not, Celes could finish it for her. "We would require the assistance of both, Hagakure and Genocider." Somehow, she managed to maintain her composure even with the situation being what it is. To say she wasn't worried would be a lie of course.

"Hagakure...Genocider..." Naegi couldn't help but look at the two pleadingly. What else were they supposed to do other than ask them in person? Their lives were entirely up to Genocider and Hagakure's choice.

Hagakure could only moan to himself with his arms crossed, looking away. Genocider could only be, simply, Genocider.

"Hahahaha!" She cackled. "Ahhh don't let it get yourself down there, toots!" She, presumably, was trying to cheer Naegi up. "I could honestly go either way to be honest." She commented.

Many eyes turned to her, some with hope that a miracle could occur.

"To be honest, after what happened to my white knight, I couldn't really give a fuck about myself." She said with wicked glee. "On one hand, I could always go out and find myself a new white knight. On the other, the puppetmaster _is_ partly responsible for my white knight, so any chance to **fuck** with him, I'm willing to take!"

"So...that would leave..." Naegi mumbled as she turned to everyone's last hope. "Hagakure..."

"Mmmh..." Hagakure moaned looking around.

"Hagakure, we need you..." Asahina pleaded.

"Upupupu, awww NOW you need him?" Monokuma grinned. "Do ya really want to let this get in the way of your choice, Hagakure? After all the hurtful things they say to youuuu, always calling you stupiiid..."

"T-That wasn't anything!" Asahina retorted. "Y-Yeah we called him names and stuff, but it was only spur of the moment stuff! Name calling back and forth during the trials!" She insisted with tears in her eyes.

"If this is really all about man, then I take back anything I said too." Owada added. "I mean, just because we say stuff doesn't mean we really mean it. Like when I kept calling Togami a douche and all."

"You actually didn't mean that?" Celes found that surprising.

"Well," Owada rubbed his neck, "yeah, at the moment, maybe. But it doesn't mean anything, honestly. I mean even with everything we've said about him, it's not like I actually wanted him to die or anything."

"I'm not sure you're really helping..." Ikusaba said rubbing her shoulder. She could hear her partner talking to her over the transmitter. Before the trial had even started, she made sure she kept the transmitter on the whole time.

_"You don't have to worry, I assurrrrrre you'll be just fine."_ Her partner said over the transmitter. Even with that assurance, she couldn't help but fear for Naegi's sake.

"Pleasepleasepleaepleasepleseplesaseplease-!" Yamada kept begging repeatedly, bowing behind the podium.

"Ughhh...you guys just don't understand." Hagakure moaned again. "I did this all for you guys."

"For us?" Naegi tilted her head.

"Whoa there amigo, let's not get ahead of ourselves!" Monokuma interrupted. "It's time to vote! Everyone has a single minute to cast their votes!"

Now, there was fear and panic all around. Their lives were officialy over, they knew it. They didn't know what to do, how to vote, or even if they should vote. It wouldn't matter anymore at this point. Whichever way the votes ended, the majority of them would be executed and punished. There was no way out for them.

And there was no time left to tell each other their final thoughts, all of them with unaccomplished goals here. Ikusaba would never confess her feelings, Kirigiri would never solve the mysteries of this school, Owada would never avenge his friends, Celes would never get to live in her European Castle which was the only thing she cared about (bitch), Yamada would never get to become an infamous Mangaka or some other entertainer fanatic like he wanted, Asahina would never escape with Oogami, Oogami's clan would be in peril, and most of all, Naegi would never have a chance to keep her promise to her friends.

All cases were truly despair in their worst. Without dreams of theirs to accomplish, there would be absolutely no hope. No miracle. No anything for them at the end of all this!

Or so they thought.

"Ok, if you guys are going to listen to anything I say, listen now." Hagakure ordered in a serious tone. No one would object to this, especially with the minute they had left. "Naegs, Yams, Wada, vote for me. Cider, Kiri, Saba, vote for Genocider. Rest of you vote for Ishimaru."

"You're the boss!" Genocider chuckled, already voting for herself.

"B-But what about you?" Naegi asked a bit worriedly.

"Hey, relax. I got a totally stupid plan for this." He said with a smile. "Just do it, hurry!"

Everyone turned to one another worriedly, but they all nodded in agreement. With the registers in front of them, they all clicked on their assigned roles of killer. They didn't have much of a choice in this matter. They had to do something, or they'd be punished anyway for NOT voting at all.

Half of them believed this was their final moments, and were already making peace with themselves as they made their votes. Others were wondering what was going on. Hagakure asked them for his trust now of all times, and they didn't have a choice in the matter even if they didn't want to. They had to put their trust into him, for possibly this one, final, time.

_And with that, the slots were beginning to turn. The wheels of fate which would determine everyone's lives. Now, in normal circumstances, the slots would roll to a single person, three times, once per slot. But things were different this time._

_Now with the contending party consisting of three killers, the slots were as followed: Hagakure's image appeared on the left, Ishimaru's, whose color was grey due to now being deceased, was centered, and Fukawa/Genocider, with her looped-tongue figure in her expression, presented on the right._

_As hard as it was for all parties to believe, the results were in- evenly. _

***ding***

***ding***

***ding***

**Yasuhiro Hagakure, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Genocider Shou: Guilty!**

...

...

"..."

Nobody could believe it. The results came in, but they came in evenly after everything! It didn't make sense to anyone. The votes should have came up somewhere along the lines of 4,3, 3. Or some work along the lines. Yet, here and now, it was all equal. It was a blessing and a tragedy.

"..." Monokuma was entirely silent. Hagakure could only grin rubbing his nose as he watched Monokuma shake with anger, but he didn't care anymore. With one snarling roar, Monokuma screamed. "**WHAT! THE! HELL!**" He shouted. "What the actual FREAKING HELL?!"

"Oops, my bad dude." Hagakure apologized sarcastically, rubbing his head.

"Wha-...huh?" Naegi was just as lost for words as everyone else.

"W-Wait, how did that just-?" Owada couldn't comprehend how this worked.

"Silly me!" Hagakure said in a goofy tone. "I guess I just forgot to vote. You know how stupid I can get, right?" He joked.

"H-Hagakure..." Asahina mumbled. She couldn't help but feel slightly guilty in all this, even if she wasn't the only one who made fun of him at times.

"I honestly didn't think you were capable of such a thing." Celes commented. "I can at least commend you for your bravery." She complimented.

"Meh, I don't know what you're talking about." Hagakure responded as he picked his right ear with his pinky. "I just forgot to vote. My bad."

"Hagakure..." Naegi could help but tear up just slightly.

No one could believe it, nor could anyone else think of doing such a thing if they were in Hagakure's shoes. He just willingly sacrificed his own life for the rest of theirs. Nobody could ever think of putting themselves in Hagakure's place like that.

"Ahh don't worry too much dudes," Hagakure encouraged, "I'm just a killer, right?"

"NO!" Naegi yelled angrily, even as she teared up. "You were- Your still our friend!" She stated. "I-I don't care what the reasoning was, you're still a good person! I know that!"

Hagakure blushed slightly, looking away. "Eh heh...thanks dude. Even if that's a lie, it means a lot."

"You know you could've just voted for someone else, right?" Kirigiri noted. "It still would've been about three, three, three, and then one. It wouldn't have mattered."

"Yeah, well..." Hagakure scratched his head. "I just wanted to make sure, you know? Make sure absolutely nothing else could happen, like Monokuma had some loop hole or whatnot. Sides, even if I did, I probably would've been too tempted to vote to keep myself alive." He explained.

"That was...truly noble, Hagakure." Oogami complimented.

"By the way, Naegs, something I don't get." He said looking to her once more. "How exactly did you solve the bit with the whole "Ishimaru helping me and all" thing?" He asked.

Naegi turned away for a minute. She couldn't bring herself to do this now. Because of her, two of her friends were going to die. Even if it meant that most of her other friends would live after this, she still felt responsible for the upcoming loss of her friends.

"It's just," she finally faced him again, "I figured at some point, he had to have given you the scraps himself. D-Don't take it the wrong way, I just couldn't really think that you planned on swapping your own scraps after this either."

"Haha, I really didn't either." He said with a laugh.

"Master Yasuhiro Hagakure, if I may ask, what exactly was the point of all this?" Yamada wondered. "To have all this going on at once...it seemed like you were truly desperate about pulling off the murder without fail."

"Mmh." Hagakure moaned lowering his head. "That... was right dude." He started shaking as tears rolled down his face. "I... I had to do it man. I had to!" He said for certain.

"But why man?!" Owada shouted back. "Why the fuck did you have to so badly? And to get bro involved of all things?!"

"Man...It's like I said, it was to save everyone." He replied.

"Why do you keep saying that? Save us from what?" Asahina asked concerned.

"This!" He yelled with the tears. "This place, this school. And I thought everyone was dying at the same time, so I couldn't tell!"

"Hm?" Kirigiri raised her brow in confusion. "Why would you think that?"

"Ghhh..." Hagakure dug through his coat pockets for a second, pulling out what appeared to be additional paper scraps. "This man! This is why I HAD to do it!" Naegi took the scraps curiously, reading over the contents.

She couldn't believe what they said.

-The outside world has been destroyed!

-If you get away with murder, you and all of your friends may leave!

-All of your friends have been poisoned and will die unless a murder happens!

"W-What is..." Naegi could barely speak.

"All those scraps I showed earlier? They really weren't mine, they were all Ish's." Hagakure stated. "Even with the ones that had to do with the double murder, those were Ish's as well." He squeezed his fist as the tears flowed.

"You were...trying to save us...?" Naegi could feel her heart aching in pain. There was no way to express the amount of regret she felt from all of this.

"I-I know one of these had to be the truth, b-but.," he wiped the tears from his face angrily, "what choice did I have but to believe?!" He continued.

"All my life, I've been a man who believes even a 30% future is possible! A-And what choice did I have but to believe it anyway?! I-I even thought everyone was poisoned too! That's what Kuma told me at least..."

...

...

...

_"What the hell dude?! Wake up!" Hagakure shouted, shaking Owada by the collar madly._

_"Wakey wakey, anyone home?" Genocider asked, shaking Yamada with her usual creepy grin._

_"AHHH!" Hagakure screamed at the mere sight of her. "What the hell are you doing here man?!"_

_"Who, little ol' me? Hahaha!" Genocider laughed madly. "Well if you must know, little Ms. Gloomy took an unexpected snooze, so I decided to check things out." She turned her head towards the lunchroom doorway. "Apparently Ms. Gloomy wasn't the only one either. A whole bunch of scuzzballs are out like a light." _

_"W-Well...What the hell's wrong with them, dude?" Hagakure asked looking around._

_As if waiting for that question to be asked, Monokuma took the opportunity to drop in from the ceiling._

_"Dawwwww, is everyone out like a light?" He teased. "Looks like we have ourselves a dilemma, don't we?"_

_"What? Kuma, what the hecks going on?!" Hagakure stammered._

_"Weeeeeell, if you want my opinion, I think we have ourselves an opportunity!" He replied._

_"Huh?" That was nowhere near the response Hagakure expected._

_"Think about it kid, you could pull off the perrrrrfect murder, and nobody would be the wiser!" Monokuma tempted. _

_"W-Wha- No way man!" Hagakure shouted. "What makes you think I would?!"_

_"Awwww, but don't you want to be a hero?" Monokuma wondered. Hagakure couldn't help but grow a little curious. "Don't you remember those scraps you got? You could save everybody, and nobody would blame ya for it!"_

_"Y-Yeah but... I...I just can't dude!" Hagakure continued insisting._

_"Even if I lent a paw?" Monokuma grinned. "I could provide the means, and you'd just have to get your hands a teensy bit dirty..."_

_Hagakure looked all around the room. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't agree with the idea, but at the same time, he couldn't turn away. Monokuma was right about this, in terms of being the perfect opportunity. Who would suspect him anyway? The guy who always screws up and messes up everything? Even better, who could blame him?! If he had the opportunity to actually save everyone and get them out of this mess, it would be perfect!_

_"But...I don't know dude..." Hagakure groaned crossing his arms. _

_"I can already see the headlines now," Monokuma pictured, "what a hero!, you da man Hagakure!, etcetera, and etcetera." He turned towards Genocider. "And surely, youuu'd want to see your white knight again, riiiight Fukawa?"_

_Genocider was already breathing heavily at the thought. "My white knight, holding me in his strapping young arms...ohhhhh..." Her tongue dripped saliva with excitement. "Little gloomy isn't here to see it anyway, but I bet she'd thank me for the chance... Ahahaha! Even if she didn't I wouldn't give a fuck! Count me in!" _

_"Excellent!" Monokuma cheered. "Now why can't you be like that, Hagakure? Someone who isn't afraid to risk themselves just to save everyone?"_

_"Egghhhh..." Hagakure moaned. "It's not like that dude, it's just... How do I know this isn't some trick anyway? I mean it could be a lie too you know!"_

_"Oohhh, I'm hurt Hagakure." Monokuma whined "I don't know WHAT I did to make you doubt me so much. Besides, are the alternatives really all that great?" Monokuma asked. "It suuuure would be terrible if they were all in a poison-induced state..."_

_"Tch..." Hagakure was squeezing his head worriedly. He couldn't figure out what to do. Should he actually go through with it and kill someone, or should he hope that something else happens?_

_...He couldn't risk it._

_"Are you sure this is right, man?" Hagakure couldn't help but ask with a groan._

_"Of course, buddy!" Monokuma's smile grew bigger on the inside. "Would I ever LIE to you...?"_

_..._

_..._

_..._

It was official. No one could blame him any longer for his actions, or that of the rests. They would never resist the same temptation if they came across the exact same situation as him.

"A-After what happened to Ish...I-I thought I discovered the real truth after." Hagakure continued. "I mean, the day after, you guys all woke up. S-So I thought... you know...And when I told Ish the same thing, h-he just wanted to help too." He couldn't bring himself to continue without crying. "I-I just wanted to help everyone man!" He cried. He fell to his knees and hands almost begging. It looked as if he was expecting some form of forgiveness.

"So...you tried to even get us too?" Owada mumbled, lowering his head.

"N-No dude, it's not what you think!" Hagakure yelled. "Those traps weren't meant to trap you guys, it was to keep you guys inside the room!" He revealed, much to Owada's surprise. "W-We didn't do it to try and trick you or anything. I-It was to keep you safe from the traps outside! At least until someone set off a trap, man..." Hagakure lowered his head once more, shaking.

"So you were trying to protect us..." Yamada frowned as he lowered his head.

"I-I'm sorry guys...I-I'm sorry!" He apologized as the tears dropped from his face.

If there was ever a time to feel wrong, it'd be now. Nobody could figure out what to say. Their friend was actually trying to risk his and his friends lives just to save everybody else...even after all they said about him that made them feel guilty. He cared about every last one of them.

"It's not your fault." Naegi spoke up. "I don't blame you." Hagakure looked at her in disbelief. She did her best to give a soft smile as she teared up. "I mean, you were just trying to help everyone...so how can I?" She asked with a smile.

"It is one of your better qualities, Hagakure." Kirigiri commented brushing her hair aside. "You... You have a good heart."

"I can at least respect that." Celes agreed with a nod.

"Y-You are a moron but...in a good way..." Asahina said as she cried.

"Geh...I still think your a dumbass, but...I guess you're not a bad guy..." Owada muttered, even after all he threatened about.

Hagakure couldn't believe what he was hearing. Whether they were all lying to him or not, he could take whatever he could get. For once, he didn't feel like people were thinking of him as a moron or an idiot, even if he could admit to doing stupid things. He finally realized, just like the rest, he was cared for as much as the rest of them.

Even if he didn't have to apologize from this point, he had to keep letting them know how sorry he felt. "I-I'm sorry still...I-I'm sorry."

"SORRY-SHMORRY"! Monokuma yelled angrily. "You completely messed up everything you blithering dolt!" He growled.

"Hey, piss off ya walking fuck!" Owada shouted angrily. "He just gave his life for us, that deserves respect!"

"Respect my tidy-whitey badonka-donk! I was looking forward to doing so many executions too!"

"So you were planning on killing us all anyway!" Ikusaba yelled. Even if she was a part of all this, she never expected her sis to go this far with things.

"Of course I was!" Monokuma smirked rubbing his head. "If Hagakure WAS even smart, he would've realized that a bear can't violate the rules no matter what. I mean gawww, for an easy lie, he sure was dumb about it.

"S-Shut up!" Naegi yelled angrily as she cried. "He's a great friend, and he isn't stupid! He's braver than a lot of us to go through all this!" She yelled.

"Naegi..." Ikusaba muttered watching the tears roll from Naegi's face. She calmly walked to Naegi's side, gently embracing her in a hug as she cried into Ikusaba's chest.

"Hey, not to break up the post-funeral, but when are we getting to my three-way?" Genocider lewdly asked. It's as if she didn't know what was going on, but she did.

"Oh ho, at least one of you are in the right frame of mind." Monokuma replied. "At least I'll be able to look forward to executing two at once here!" Monokuma grew excited, almost completely forgetting his past rage.

"W-W-WAIT!" Hagakure pleaded quickly.

"Nope, no more time, we're all out!" Monokuma pressed the buttons on the side of his throne. As expected, the punishment bell rose before him.

"N-Naegs, take this!" Hagakure quickly said. Naegi looked back as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She blinked curiously as Hagakure began taking off his black jacket, placing it in Naegi's hands. "G-Give that to my sister when you guys get out of here, ok?" He requested tearfully.

Naegi could never say no, nodding in reply as she tightly held onto the jacket in her arms. "I'll give it to her myself." She promised with a smile.

"Honey, I'm **coming** for ya!" Genocier said with glee. Wherever she was going, even if it was hell itself, that wouldn't keep her from meeting her beloved White Knight!

"Let's get this punishment rolling! I have a faaaaaaaaantastic planned out for the Super High School Level Shaman, and Super High School Level Psychopath!"

And with the flick of his hammer, he swing the bell.

_**Yasuhiro Hagakure and Genocider Shou have been found guilty. Commencing Punishment...**_

_The two just stood in the darkness, Hagakure trembling in fear, Genocider with the same typical grin as always, watching as the world grew around them. All around, buildings, streets, cars, everything you'd see in your typical city life, was popping out all around them. _

_The citizens didn't consist of actual people of course. All of them were replaced by Monokumas dressed as average civilians, all running in panic at the sight of the two. _

_Hagakure could only gulp as dozens upon dozens of police cars, all driven by Monokumas, appeared before the two. It was only natural to watch as cop-themed Monokumas jumped out of the vehicles, aiming their pistols at the two. A helicopter could be seen looming over them, further giving off their presence with the spotlight that shined upon the two._

_This wasn't going to end well._

**-Bonnie 'n Clyde Styled Execution-**

_It wasn't any surprise that Hagakure could only shake at the legs, panicking as he knew his final moments were upon him. Genocider, however, she relished the chance to blow off so much steam at once. By the time the Monokuma Police even fired their first shot, it was over._

_Genocider was quickly slicing and dicing past all the cheap Monokuma rip offs, laughing with more and more wicked glee as she watched their heads sweep off their bodies. None of the bullets were even reaching her as she elegantly danced between then, tearing down a pathway of destruction as the Monokumas and cars exploded. _

_Hagakure wasn't fairing much better, but at least he was avoiding getting shot. He jumped from place to place yelling loudly, crying for his life as he did what he could to follow behind Genocider as much as possible. It was either that, or he would for sure be shot at._

_At first glance, you'd think the two were gonna make it. With Hagakure using Genocider as a meat shield, not that he had a choice in the matter, and Genocider slicing each and every obstacle that came her way, the two were unstoppable. _

_That's when, after reaching the edge of the "city", HE appeared, before Genocider. She couldn't believe her eyes. There, off in the distance, hidden in shadows, was her beloved white knight. How she missed him so. With the cops all but destroyed, she dropped everything that was considered useless weight, like the scissors. _

_In one mad dash, leaving Hagakure and dust behind her, she burst straight into his arms, metaphorically speaking, wanting to spend their "happily ever after" for the rest of her life with him. _

_Hagakure was lost for words. He had no idea why he was doing what he was doing, only that he had to stop her. He sprinted as fast as he could, yelling her name. _

_But it was already too late._

_Wanting to commence their eternal lives together, hearts flying around her, Genocider puckered her lips, slowly leaning in on her white knight in the shadows. Hagakure was too late to stop her. By the time her lips connected to her white knight's face, it was over. Just as Hagakure finally caught up to her, she opened her eyes._

_Her white knight was nothing more than a full blown illusion. Hearing the sizzling noises, she saw it; mounds upon mounds of dynamite, all lined up and piled up together, and in the shape of a man. It's not too surprising she thought it was (well maybe a little), as the dynamite was wearing Togami's suit, and had a perfect replica of his hairdo. Too bad it was the end of the line for those two._

_*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*_

_In one massive explosion, everything that appeared, at least due to the special effects, in a one-mile radius, everything was wiped out. A large cloud of smoke and fire rose into the air, blanketing everything in a sea of fire. Coincidentally enough, the sprinklers of the school went off after a short while, dousing the fire which was slowly replaced with steam. _

_The only thing left after everything was gone, were the torched scissors that once belonged to Genocider Shou..._

...

...

...

Nobody could even stay for the aftermath of the explosion as they parted ways. Everyone was already out of it, exhausted from the amount of stress Hagakure's death, and the trial, brought them. Nobody even knew what to say to one another, especially with Monokuma there. As painful as the trial was when it ended, it only strengthened everyone's resolve to escape.

From there, everyone went their separate ways as they turned in for the night. Owada was the only one who stayed out, having stayed behind in the lunchroom. He decided to have another drink of soda for the night, about an hour before the Night Time effect would kick in and he'd have to leave. Pouring himself about his 3rd glass of soda, he stared into it with a solemn look.

"Huff," he groaned, swirling his glass around a bit, "here's to bro, Fujisaki...and Hagakure." He declared, swallowing the contents of the entire glass in one gulp. Looking back into it once it was empty, he growled. "GOD DAMN IT!" He cursed, throwing what was now the third cup against the wall.

*CRASH*

"Huh-!" A voice suddenly shrieked.

Surprised by the sudden response, he looked towards the doorway, noticing Naegi standing there slightly frightened. She was already in her pink pajamas, consisting of her usual pink night sure and pants. She had her hand slightly covering her mouth, having just been startled by Owada's bout of anger, and the scene he must caused.

Owada couldn't help but growl as he lowered his head. He couldn't get mad, or at least mad enough to frighten a chick. Breathing deeply, he relaxed as much as he could, sitting down with his anger lessened.

"S-Sorry..." He apologized . "Did I wake you?"

Naegi shook her head. "N-No...I was just getting ready for bed when I heard something crash." She slowly walked over to the table. "A-Are you ok?"

"Ghhhhh." Owada groaned as he rubbed his head. "Sorry, just blowing off steam." He grabbed the nearby jug of soda before turning to her. "You want some?"

"Sure." She nodded. She smiled as Owada calmly poured her a glass, doing the same for himself once he was done. "So...Are you ok?" Naegi asked again.

"Huff, yeah, yeah..." He muttered. "Just blowing off steam and all."

"By breaking dishes?" She guessed, looking at the partly torn wallpaper and the pile of broken glass shards.

"Meh, that's the steam blowing part. Aside from that, I'm making a toast." He gestured raising his glass.

"A toast?" Naegi asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty much just like cheers and all, you know? Raise a glass, tip off to something your celebrating." He explained.

"Oh..." Naegi looked at her glass for a few seconds before smiling to him. "Cheers-err...I mean, Toast!" She cheered, raising her glass to him.

"...Tch ahahahhaha!" Owada couldn't help but burst into tears and laughter, slamming his head into the table. Naegi lowered her brow, unsure why he was acting so strangely all of a sudden. It was a bit nicer to see him in good spirits, it just didn't help that she partly felt like he was laughing at her. This went on for about a full minute before he could talk again.

"Geh, I-I'm sorry..." He wiped the tears from his eyes with his finger. "I just needed a good laugh." Naegi's cheeks puffed a bit.

"Hey! I was being serious about this!" She pouted.

"N-No no, it's, heh heh, not that." He chuckled again. "I-It's just that... This would be the first time I ever did this with a chick." He said, raising his glass. Naegi tilted her head.

"Really?... Why not?" She wondered.

"Well...heh...It has to do with the gang, you know?" He looked at his glass as he raised it to the air. "I mean...It has to do how guys and dames are, you know? Guys like me, we hit the streets and hit other thugs. As for the girls...well...they're usually just, sitting on the side lines, you know? Men do it with each other cause we're the ones on the front lines, you know?"

"...No, I don't know." Naegi didn't like how this was going.

"I mean...well, the guys put their lives on the lines and get straight into the action, you know? We put our lives on the lines, tough it out, then we toast to each other after. Kind of an... honor thing you know?"

"So...You're saying girls are weak?" Naegi asked a bit irritated. "What about Sakura? I mean she could probably take your whole gang on!"

"Well it's not I'm saying all girls are weak." He replied. "I mean, girls like Sakura are one in a million, you know? Then there's girls like-" He froze completely as he looked at Naegi's face again.

Apparently he's had no prior experience to having one-on-one talks to girls like this, because, as "shocking" as it was to him, he could see fires of rage burning in Naegi's eyes. He didn't understand why either. After all, be was being "polite" and everything, so as to why Naegi was mad, he'd never know.

"So you think girls are generally weak? Girl's like me?!" Naegi shouted as she stood up.

"N-No, no, no, I don't mean like that-!" He quickly shook his hands.

"Cause girls aren't you know! I mean I've-!" Naegi retorted. But only after a few moments, she couldn't help frown. She lowered her head as she looked back at the table, slumping in her chair.

She didn't want to admit it, but she really couldn't vouch for herself in these matters. Since she's come here, she's been tricked and betrayed by one of her best friends, knocked out and kidnapped by one of her friends, and virtually killed within a matter of nearly three weeks.

And each and every one of those times, she's had to have her friends bail her out and save her. For someone who was trying to defend her own sex, she wasn't really feeling like she was doing a good job.

Fortunately, Owada wasn't without sympathy, or ACTUAL decency, patting her back softly. "Hey, hey, don't let anything I said get you down. I was just blowing smoke." He apologized.

"But you're right though..." Naegi muttered depressed.

"No, I'm serious, it was just me blowing smoke." He grumbled at himself angrily. "This is just some stupid stuff I talk about with the guys every now and then. I was just being stupid." He was mentally punching himself as he said this. "We just talk about stupid stuff like this from time to time. We don't mean it though." He tried smiling to her again. "Trust me, you're plenty tough!" He encouraged.

"Name one time I was tough." Naegi muttered, lowering her head some more.

"We...The um..." Owada had to think of a legitimate answer. The number one rule, he could never EVER break, was being responsible for letting a girl cry. "Well...Look at you now!" He suggested. Naegi had a glum look on her face, but looked back towards him. "You were just killed this morning man-er chick. And look at you now! You're standing on your own two feet like it was nothing!" He patted her back once more. "Hell, even I would've gone mental after that. That takes balls!...Or well...you know what I mean."

"Heh..." Naegi got the point of what he was trying to say, and she couldn't help but smile a little. He was a bit of a jerk at times, but he didn't mean anything.

Just like Hagakure.

"And remember the second trial? You got clunked over the head with a dumbbell, cause that Fujisaki kid was all crazy and-"

"F-Fujisaki.." Naegi moaned as she teared.

"Ghhhh!" Owada was panicking now. He was about to break the most important rule of-

"Pfffft! Hahaha!" Naegi suddenly busted into laughter when he least expected it. He had absolutely no idea what had just happened. "Y-You should've seen your face when you thought I was about to cry!" He laughed.

"Ugh..." Owada could not believe himself as his jaw dropped. He was just pranked on by a girl, and made to look like an idiot.

_This chick is dangerous..._ He thought to himself. Naegi sniffled slightly wiping her tears with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I was a bit hurt honestly, but I just needed to see that." She commented. Owada just sighed to himself, glad he at least didn't break his man's honor.

"Y-Yeah, see?" He raised his glass smiling again. "I was just blowing smoke. Hey, trust me, Fujisaki was an awesome kid. He had a lot more guts than I did." He complimented. "Cheers?" He offered.

With a nod, Naegi raised her glass too. "Cheers!" She replied, tapping the glasses together. With that, the two took a large drink, swallowing down the contents in one gulp.

*CRASH*

"Ackh hackck!" Owada nearly coughed up, startled by the sudden crashing sound he heard. Looking ahead, he noticed the shattered remains of Naegi's glass, all the way over where he threw his. "What the hell did you do that for?!" He stammered. Naegi jumped slightly from his action. She couldn't help but frown slightly looking away.

"I-I'm sorry." She squeaked. "I-I just thought it was part of the "Cheers" thing, or at least the way you did it." She replied.

"..Tchahaaha!" Owada burst into laughter falling back into his chair. Naegi couldn't help but notice him tearing in the eyes again, but for different reasons this time. "You know what, forget everything I said. You can toast or cheer with me and my boys once we get out of this place." He promised.

"Hmhmhm." Naegi giggled, glad she could help him out after all.

"By the way, where's that Ikusaba chick?" He asked.

"Oh, Mukuro?" Naegi looked back towards the doorway. "She said she was going to check up on all the rooms once more, finish debugging them and check for any others."

"Huh...You sure she should be alone?" He asked concerned. "It's still probably dangerous." Naegi shrugged.

"I offered to go with her plenty of times, but she just told me to stay in my room..."

...

...

...

Ikusaba stared at the pool feeling tense. She trusted her partner with her life. She trusted Naegi with her life as well. But after today's recent-most trial, she didn't know what to think. Normally, most trials wouldn't have such a sophisticated plan, even if she was aware of anything ahead of time. And her partner told her nothing about this!

This is why, her only thoughts were focused on Naegi's previous words...

...

_"Heh heh..." Naegi chuckled a little. She did find the joke funny, but it was still a bit hard to laugh at your dead body report."...?" Naegi leaned her face a bit closer to the image of her death once more. The airing silence coming from her caught Ikusaba's attention._

_"Something wrong, Naegi?" She asked. Naegi continued to remain silent, staring under her dead body in the picture._

_"...Where's the hook?" She asked. Ikusaba raised her brow._

_"Hook?" She repeated. Naegi looked back to her._

_"The one that held me down in the pool." She said._

_"...Hook? You were hooked down there?" Naegi felt a little strange about the questions she was being asked._

_"Y-Yeah...Didn't you guys see it when you came to save me?"_

_"N-... Naegi...When we found you, you were only tied up and drowned." Ikusaba said looking back to the picture. "Ishimaru was already drowned and all, and you were down there too, but...we only found you tied with the rope, nothing else." Naegi frowned slightly._

_"B-But..." Naegi turned back to her picture again. "I felt it...Something was holding me at the bottom of the pool."_

...

She squeezed her fist with certainty.

_I trust you Naegi..._ She told herself before diving into the pool herself. She swam to the very bottom, scouring the of the pool floor. For the next ten minutes, she examined and searched the entire pool floor. She needed to know for certain that either she or Naegi were wrong. Whichever it came to, she had to ensure that nothing was wrong.

That's when she saw it.

Taking a quick break to catch her breath above surface again, she dove under where Naegi presumably drowned. Tracing her finger all across the floor, she kept searching until she found it. In one, particular spot, there was an opening, or a hole to be accurate. Feeling around it, she could feel small grooves in it, as if something had indeed be screwed into it.

It told her what she needed, grinding her teeth. Just as she was about to rise up to the surface once more, she spotted another interesting item on the pool floor, taking it with her as she left.

About several minutes later, she ground herself on the fourth floor, waiting. Calling on Monokuma wasn't too much of a hassle. What was a hassle was trying to get a direct answer out of her "partner", a word she rarely felt like using anymore. After another minute, she watched as the self-proclaimed headmaster popped out of the floor.

"Dun di di duuuun!" He cheered. "Introducing, the ever, lovable- ACCKK!" He suddenly yelped as Ikusaba angrily grabbed him by the throat, thrusting him against the wall. "I-It's against the rules to attack the-"

"SHUT UP!" Ikusaba shouted angrily. Her eyes were nothing but pure hate and betrayal. "You have several seconds to say something, NOW!"

"About what?!" He asked obliviously.

"You know what" Ikusaba growled.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I can't tell what gender I am, but using the urinal makes me feel a bit normal, ok?" He joked.

"Quit shitting with me!" She yelled. "You know damn well what I'm talking about!"

"Hmm? By whatever do you mean, my sweet?" He smirked.

"Oh, I don't know," Ikusaba rolled her eyes as she dug through her pockets, "but out of curiosity, do you have any idea what this could possibly be?" She asked, showing him what he found earlier.

"..." For once, Monokuma was silent as he looked directly at the small thin item in her hands. No wisecracks, no jokes, just silence, and seriousness. "...Where did you get that?" He asked. NOW, Ikusaba was the one smirking.

"Oh, this? I don't know, why don't you tell me? Do you know HOW in the world, I happened to find a strand of pink hair in the school's pools?"

"..." Now it was serious. He faced her directly. "What do you want?"

"I want fucking answers, that's what!" She grumbled. "Look me dead in the eye, and tell me, you had nothing to do with Naegi's murder."

"I could look at ya alive in the eye, and tell ya the same thing." He teased.

"I'm getting pissed..." She warned.

"What do you want, an apology? I was just thinking of my faaaavorite sissy sis." Monokuma chuckled.

"Bullshit! You're breaking the rules here!"

"Hmm? Am I? Last I checked, you broke the rules first."

Ikusaba was taken back by this for a moment. "W-What are you talking about?"

"You remember the scraps you gave back to Naegi?" He grinned.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about..." She shifted her eyes away nervously.

"Oh, really? You know, it's funny. I never gave Naegi THREE scraps that told her she was going to get killed, just the one about you." He knew everything about what she did.

"..." She didn't even know how to respond to that. She broke the rules, he was right. She just didn't know what to say about all this.

"I gave Naegi scraps about you being a traitor, ANNND her parents being dead. You switched them out, you naughty girl."

"B-But it was a lie too! Her parents aren't dead!" Monokuma rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, not yet anyway." He smirked at her again. "You break the rules, and I break a rule, juuuust _slightly_." He joked. Ikusaba glared back at him.

"But what I did was nothing! You were-!" She was cut off as he waved several Tickets with Monokuma symbols on them, all in front of her face.

"I believe I promised you a little something for getting kissing footage, even if it waaas CPR."

"Ngh..." She grumbled to herself. She knew her partner was sick minded, but to go this far was way beyond even her expectations. Yet her partner was always one to follow the rules, right down to a quota. She just didn't expect things to end like this.

"C'mooooon, you kept your end, so I'll keep mine." He insisted, stuffing them into her front pockets. "You just keep being a good little sister, and I'll ensure you and Naegi never have to worry about a single class trial, execution or otherwise." He promised.

...

...

...

Ikusaba was frowning as she walked down the hallways of the first floor. The meeting did not end the way she expected things to. She wanted answers and to confront her about Naegi's murder, and the recent trial. In the end though, all she realized was that she was nothing more than a dog on a leash. As long as she played her role and followed the rules of the games too, her partner would ensure both Ikusaba and Naegi lived through all of this.

She felt a little weak out of all this. This wasn't how she expected things to go. She thought her and her partner were going to be on even terms, all the way. Yet, she realized she was just as much a prisoner during this school game as they all were. It was a little heartbreaking to herself.

"Where were you?" A voice suddenly asked. Ikusaba nearly jumped, seeing Kirigiri leaning between her doorway. She shook her head a bit as she tried to clear her head.

"A-Oh! I-I was just out for a walk, get rid of excess energy and all, you know?" She lied with a slight smile.

"Do you..." She examined up and down Ikusaba. "Do you always go for a swim before you go to bed?" Ikusaba irked inside, suddenly realizing she was still slightly wet from her recent swim. Her hair would still be soaking by this point.

"O-O-Oh! Hahaha!" She chuckled nervously. "W-Well, you know, I-it's just a little something I decided to do, clear my head and all, you know?"

Kirigiri smiled with a nod. "Oh, I understand. Not a bad idea either, maybe I should try it." She thought out loud rubbing her chin. Ikusaba gave her a nod as she smiled.

"Hmhm, just be careful." She told her as she walked away.

"Oh, I will." She replied, turning to walk back into her room. "Oh, and, just out of curiosity, what does a strand of Pink Hair have to do with anything?"

Ikusaba froze mid-step, halfway down the hallway. Her eyes were shaking with fear, not just for her own cover, but for her entire mission all together. Those words were like nails on a chalkboard, screeching at her heart where it hurt most. And she couldn't believe what she just heard.

"...W-W-What?" She stuttered, slowly looking back. She was more amazed at how silent Kirigiri was as she somehow ended up behind her.

"You know, it's actually quite amazing to say the least. I mean," she brushed her hair as she continued, "I never would have thought that a single piece of hair would keep Monokuma from killing a student, you know? Or was it because you were caught cheating during the game he put on for us using Naegi's scraps? Ohhh I just can't seem to decide myself. I'm sure if I asked everyone else they would understand it better."

Every word that came from Kirigiri's mouth were like daggers to Ikusaba's heart. This wasn't happening. She glanced back and forth up and down the hallways, returning Kirigiri's attention with an angered expression.

"What do you want?" She firmly asked. She could not walk away now. Kirigiri knew too much about her, and she revealed as much from the last two minutes alone of speaking to her. She was just as dangerous as her partner was.

"It's nothing I want, really." Kirigiri smiled as she crossed her arms. "After all, this is just pointless "idle chitchat" since I don't appear to have the evidence, now do I?" Her gaze lowered as she saw Ikusaba's sly smirk.

"Y-Yeah, that's right." Ikusaba admitted. "And you should remember that. Between you and me, none of this is even happening right now." She smiled sweetly one more as she closed her eyes. "As far as anyone else is concerned, we're just having a nice, friendly chat with each other. And for your sake, I think we would both be better off if we just left it like that."

"Oh, really?" Before Ikusaba could react, Kirigiri pulled her by the collar, pulling her head closer to hers. "Then let me tell you something you should remember you bitch." She began speaking quieter so that only the two of them could hear. Kirigiri's eyes stared straight into Ikusaba's skull. No amount of combat the soldier has been through has terrified her, granted by a small amount, as this situation has.

"I don't trust you. I haven't trusted you since before we met. I have no idea who you are, nor do I know where you came from, but I will say this. I know you're not one of us. And now, I have no more room to doubt that. So I will be watching you."

"And mark my words," she grabbed Ikusaba by the throat as her tone got deeper, "if anything happens to Naegi again, if she has so much as a scratch on her face, then that's it. No amount of training or exercise will prepare you, no amount of warning will be given when I come. If anything, EVER, happens to Naegi again, I can promise you one thing:

"**I. Will. END. You.**"

...

...

...

A/N: ANnnnd hoofta! Another rootin-tootin grand almighty chapter, FINISHED! Hoofta. Anyway, tensions seem to be rising as Kirigiri's and Ikusaba's banter and hatred for one another grows. How will things play out? ONLY I KNOW! (horray for me ^^!)

On a separate note, to the last reviewer who pointed out my "mistake" or whatever from Naegi's scraps, well HA! I proved you wrong! It was COMPLETELY INTENTIONAL!...Yeah! Take that! It was totally planned and not changed after this chapter!...haha…

Seriously! How dare you try to challenge me and my story-writing! I'll haf u noe thad I hafend maed a zingel misteak in mi storee ad ull at thiz poynt!

Also, Shout out to my best friend Westerner, for being the 3-...I mean congratulations Explosive kingdom on...Tom reidan, you sonavagun, I always knew you'd...huh...well this is surprising. None of these guys hit my 30 mark : /. Today's 10th placement goes to a new partner, **AnimesWorld** :P

I use the term partner, because surprisingly enough, he/she (which one are you again?) lives in Hong Kong, or somewhere around it, and has provided CRUCIAL information I've needed to pre-develop my story for my sequel fic, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, GB edition. It has pretty much all the same chars and genders, but with new additions and twists to my world taking place with a fem naegi.

How will the story play out? only we know, but for now, a shout out again to **Animesworld**. As such, he/she will have her bonus episode posted next, so all stay tuned for that :P!

Live, fav, and rev as always, and please support the continuing fanfic ^^


	17. A Glimpse of the Past

A/N: Ahhh, how ya all doing ^^?

*waits for a response*

I said, HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING?

*continues waiting*

...Ok you know what guys, if you're gonna be a jerk and not tell me, you could at least you're not going to X(!

Lol, anyway, onto the main story! With tensions running high, and a new motive just around the corner, it'll be interesting where things go! Also another shoutout to Animesworld, hope the chapter was to your liking ^^

Onto zee story!

...

...

...

_"Nhhhh, you have a delicious air about you..." The student hissed, using their lengthy tongue to taste a sense of their captive's aroma. It was like how a lizard uses their tongue to smell with. _

_"P-Please let me go..." The captive shrieked quietly. She was currently dangling her legs in the air as their assaulter had her lifted up against the locker, hanging her up by her chin. _

_It might not make much sense to you by this point, but the current victim of this case was Makoto Naegi, a student who was just recently accepted to Hopes Peak Academy as the Super High School Level Good Luck. Under normal circumstances, a student would be thrilled after having been accepted to such a glorious school, where success here would guarantee success in life. But for Naegi, her life has been anything but success since coming here._

_She's been dealing with the works; struggling just to keep her grade up through endless studying, working on projects which could potentially make or break her grades, and above all, trying to make a single friend around this school. _

_Saying it was hard would be putting it delicately. It wasn't that people didn't necessarily like her or anything. The main problem was trying to gain one another's respect. All of the fellow students who were accepted into this school were brought to this place due to their prodigious talents and skills they excelled at in comparison to anyone else across the world. But for Naegi, what about her?_

_For people like Naegi, they were mostly looked down upon. It didn't matter If Super High School Level students like her were an absolute princess to people or a devil in women's clothing in terms of behavior. She's single-handedly learned that in a place like this, the only thing that keep people together is their relationships in talents. _

_Which is why when it came to her, people mostly kept to themselves. They didn't really mind if she tried talking to her or anything, but they never invited her to anything, or attempt to even start a conversation with her. She was always the one who would have to start something with another student just to have a conversation. _

_While normally this was an ok sort of thing, seeing how neither side caused trouble for each other, at the same time, there were those who actually took advantage out of this. _

_Surprisingly, there were actually only a relatively few people who knew this was going on. For those who were outside the social norm, those who weren't simply ignoring Naegi, they took advantage of her. They bullied her, picked on her, harassed her, and she could do nothing about it. Some of it was just minor fun as they picked on her, pulling a simple prank or teasing her every now and then. But sometimes, she suffered physical harassment and social abuse._

_Sure, she tried to tell others, but no one listened to her entirely. Plus, thanks in part to the talents her bullies tended to have, they somehow managed to end up getting away with it, whether it was simply because of their title, or because they used their talents to get away with it. Even the teachers couldn't help her with her dilemma, due to never finding any proof of these "bullying's" that she claims she's gone through. _

_And when the people who picked on her later found out about this, this would only end up making things worse for her later on. _

_And now, she was suffering bullying, but of a completely different variety. From the proclaimed Super High School Level Bodyguard, Isshiki Madarai, he caught wind of her constant harassment. What he found wasn't a potential victim, or a friend, but an opportunity. An opportunity which could have many "benefits" for him. _

_Which is what brought us to this scene. He couldn't just walk up to her and start a conversation about his services either. Instead, he found it necessary to lift her up by the chin, and hold her against the wall. It didn't matter if he was trying to offer protection, or whatever Naegi thought he said. It still terrified her, and it was beginning to feel worse than her typical bullying._

_"Word around here is you've been having problems, am I right? He wondered. _

_"P-Problems?" Naegi asked nervously. _

_She couldn't tell if he was someone who was bullying her in the past, or if he was just wondering. She barely knew half the people who bullied her, and those who did typically came back for being ratted out on. _

_"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" She lied, struggling in his tight grip._

_"There'sss no need to lie, trussst me." He commented. She would probably feel a little more easy about the present scenario if he didn't brush his creepy long tongue against her cheek._

_"I-I'm not l-lying, honest!" She insisted. "I-I'm just having...r-regular school problems! You probably just heard wrong, o-or maybe someone else misunderstood."_

_"Now, now, there's no need to lie. I'm not here to cause trouble." He said. "I'm just here to offer my ssservices to you." _

_"S-Services?" She wondered._

_"Yesss, I happen to be the greatest Bodyguard around here, you know. I coooould help you with your problems."_

_"P-Problems...I-I keep telling you, I d-don't have any problems! B-Besides, I don't have any money..." She replied._

_"That'sss ok." Naegi's fears heightened as his eyes shifted lower. "You could repay me in...other ways..." He hinted. Naegi could only let out an inaudible gasp as his tongue slowly began slithering down into the inside of her school shirt. It was a revolting feeling as his tongue inched closer and closer to her chest. _

_She panicked. "S-Some he-mmhhh!" She attempted to shout, only for Madarai to claps his hand tightly over her mouth._

_"Be quiet you bitch!" He hissed as he rolled his tongue out of her shirt. "You see the truth of the matter is, you have no choice." He told her. "You have no friends, no help, nobody, to help you. Fact of it is, no one cares about you." _

_Naegi teared up slightly as he talked. It wasn't his words or comments that frightened her, but the way he caressed his tongue around her cheeks that scared her. Her body shriveled with each touch that she felt, feeling the slimy long-ness all around her face. And it wasn't ending. _

_"Fact of the matter is, you need me." He firmly stated. Naegi's pupils dilated in fear as he began to slowly slide his tongue back into her shirt once more. "And I... I need some "things" too..." He grinned wickedly as his tongue once again began to slowly slide inside of her shirt, coming deeper and closer to her chest. _

_Nonononononoonono-! Naegi screamed inside her mind. _

_"Just face it, you're mine Naegi..."_

_"Naegi..."_

_"Naegi..."_

"Naegi..."

...

...

...

"Naegi!"

Naegi suddenly opened her eyes, being greeted by the sight of a worried-looking Ikusaba. Naegi noticed how she appeared to be sweating slightly, breathing heavily from fear. Shifting her eyes around, she realized she was back in bed, and in her pajamas. With a sigh, Naegi wiped her forehead, clearing off the sweat as she leaned up.

"Just a dream..." She muttered to herself. She shifted her eyes to the left slightly as she Ikusaba stroking her hair out of her face, gently.

"Are you ok?" She asked concerned. "You were mumbling in your sleep and eventually started yelling."

Naegi smiled to herself. It WAS just a dream after all. She was glad too. That was just a dream, no, a nightmare. Around here, in reality, she was surrounded by the truth. She had friends all around here in this place, somewhere where she was safe.

"I-I'm fine." She replied. "I guess it was just a nightmare or something." Ikusaba gave a small smile as she embraced her in a small hug.

"Well it had to be a heck of a nightmare." She commented. "You were yelling so frightened, it was like you were under attack or something."

"It was frightening though." Naegi lowered her head. "I... I don't know, it just felt real somehow."

Ikusaba eyed her curiously. "Real? How?"

"I don't know. I-It was like..." Naegi felt around her chin. "It was like I was actually there. There was this...I don't know, some really weird guy there who..." Naegi closed her eyes unable to finish. "I-It was awful! I don't know what Isshiki Madarai was trying to do, b-but he...a-and this...long tongue thing..."

Ikusaba couldn't help but widen her eyes slightly at the mention of this. She realized now what Naegi was experiencing. It wasn't a dream or a nightmare, but a memory. It had to be. How else could she possibly come up with the exact name of the now-deceased Ultimate Bodyguard? And she knew her sister was listening in on every minute of this conversation.

"I-It was definitely a dream." Ikusaba assured. "I mean, would anyone really have a tongue that was long and all?" She asked. Naegi was silent for a few seconds, but smiled up to her.

"Your right. I-I mean, it had to be, right?" Naegi smiled. Ikusaba nodded with a smile. The next thing Naegi knew, she began holding onto Naegi tightly, pulling her towards the bathroom.

"Now come on, it's morning anyway. We might as well relax with a nice warm shower." She said with a slightly excited tone. Naegi raised her brow slightly as her heels dragged along the floor.

"You really like taking showers with people, you know that?"

...

...

...

And so, about twenty minutes later, several minutes after the Monokuma announcement went off, both girls were fully dressed and ready to head out the door. Naegi was back in her feminine clothes once again, not caring anymore of her appearance. This time around, however, she was just wearing her yellow long sleeve shirt and blue skirt. No jacket.

She didn't even care if her breast were slightly noticeable with the shift on, a comment that nearly snapped her out of the idea of wearing girls' clothes again. Like this now, with her long hair combed behind her head, she could feel confident about her appearance, and the idea that she wouldn't be mistaken as a boy anymore.

The only jacket she did have on her was the black one tied tightly around her waste. It wasn't hers either, but one that belonged to her dear friend, Hagakure. Before his final moments, she made a vow that she would return this jacket to his mother personally, being his final request.

Although she actually tried wearing it over herself regularly, it turned out it was slightly large on her, practically touching the floor even with it on her. It wasn't too surprising to say the least. After all, Hagakure was about a foot or two taller than her. That didn't keep her from bringing it along though. She promised she would not take it out of her sights until after she gave it to his mother.

On a rather interesting note, as the two walked out the door, they were greeted by Kirigiri, who appeared to be waiting for the two of them. She smiled at Naegi as she was leaning against the wall on the other side. Even if Ikusaba was in her eyesight, she wouldn't show any discomfort with Naegi around.

Ikusaba was a bit surprised at the same time. After their little "chat" the night before, she could see Kirigiri was serious. She would not take her eyes off Ikusaba, especially for Naegi's sake. She wasn't all too worried that she somehow eavesdropped on Ikusaba's and Monokuma's meeting last night, since she at least knew she wouldn't do anything with Naegi around her.

That didn't keep her from being on guard though, seeing how Kirigiri managed to come this far with knowing part of her identity.

For now though, both people would simply act like _friends_, if only for Naegi.

"Hey Kirigiri!" Naegi greeted with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Good morning Naegi." Kirigiri greeted back with a smile. "I just figured maybe we could walk to the lunchroom together from now on in the mornings." She replied. "With how Monokuma's been recently, I figured we'd be safer if we started walking together from now on."

"Oh, thank you!" She turned her head back to look at Ikusaba. At any moment Naegi wasn't focused on one girl, that girl would throw the other an angered expression- just like how Kirigiri glared at Ikusaba while Ikusaba just smiled, seeing how Naegi was looking up at her.

"But you shouldn't have to worry. I have Ikusaba here to protect me." She commented, looking at Kirigiri once more. As expected, she was smiling now as Ikusaba shot the glare.

"Oh, I'm sure she can do a great job keeping you safe." Kirigiri responded. The entire time, she was squeezing her fist behind her back. She could not make a scene with Naegi there, no matter how much she wanted to smack Ikusaba's smug grin. "I just figured, you know, safety in numbers, right?" Naegi tapped her chin in thought.

"Hmm...Yeah, I guess you're right." Naegi nodded. "Especially with the last murder, who knows how things will go from here on." She gestured to Kirigiri with her hand. "C'mon! Let's go get some breakfast!"

"Certainly." Kirigiri nodded back. As the trio started walking, Kirigiri took the opportunity to _accidentally_ bump Ikusaba out of the way. This placed her right between Ikusaba and Naegi.

As the trio walked, Kirigiri couldn't help but notice Naegi's slightly concerned expression on her face. "Is something wrong? You seem bothered."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry." She replied with an apologetic smile. "I just... had a rough morning."

"Oh?" Kirigiri shifted her attention back to Ikusaba, slightly angry. "About what, if I may ask?" She wondered, hinting towards Ikusaba's possible involvement.

"I'll have you know, it was just a simple nightmare." Ikusaba said with a fake smile. Once again, because Naegi was looking up at her.

"A nightmare?"

"Yeah." Naegi replied. She frowned a bit as she turned away. "I-It was strange, you know? It felt real like I could recall it, but all I can remember for sure is screaming when I woke up. Luckily Ikusaba was there to comfort me." Kirigiri gave a soft smile to her.

"It's alright Naegi." Kirigiri patted her shoulder gently. "With everything we've all been through, nightmares are to be expected."

"I guess you're right." Naegi agreed. During the brief few seconds she turned her attention away from the two, Kirigiri muttered something to Ikusaba quietly.

"Besides, if I woke up to see your face every morning, I'd scream too." She added. Ikusaba angrily twitched her brow. She had so many things to say back to her about that, but she couldn't say it in front of Naegi. It became even harder to resist the urge as Kirigiri smirked. She could only respond with the least offensive thing she could think of without worry of Naegi hearing her.

"At least I HAVE someone to wake up to every morning." She bragged.

She took pleasure in the fact Kirigiri showed small signs of jealousy to the simple things. With a cheeky grin, she continued to whisper. "And let me tell you, when we're showering together, it's not just steamy because of the hot water..." She teased.

Now Kirigiri was on the defensive, doing her best not respond. She knew Ikusaba was kidding, at least about the steamy part, but she couldn't believe she'd stoop low enough to reveal how Ikusaba and Naegi showered together in the morning. The mere thought of it filled Kirigiri's face with a red blush, only adding more things to the list of reasons why she hated Ikusaba.

Only hearing the sounds of the two mumbling back and forth, Naegi turned towards the two once more.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?" She asked curiously. The two looked at her with innocent, slightly nervous, smiles at the same time.

"Nothing!"

...

...

...

"So, is there anything we should discuss before starting the Morning Investigation?" Asahina asked.

The numbers have thinned to half the students after the incident last night. Now, with only 8 students remaining, the cast shrunk down to consisting of Naegi, Yamada, Kirigiri, Owada, Ikusaba, Celes, Asahina, and Oogami. They never truly realized how small of a group they were when they started until now. Looking back on the friends they lost, each of them felt a bit saddened in remembrance, but at the same time, it only strengthened their resolve to escape this hell hole, and avoid the next possible murder from occurring.

It wasn't all too surprising to see that Ikusaba and Kirigiri were each sitting by Naegi's side.

"Well..." Naegi scratched her head a bit. "To be honest, I haven't really done this in awhile." She reminded.

It hadn't really been all that long since the last one, only about a week since the students did their second class investigation back when Fujisaki was still alive. After what happened, she missed the third one after falling into a brief depression the following morning. She was at least informed of any developments the group came across the following morning.

"Has anything new happened since the last investigation?" Naegi asked.

"Meh, it's been about the same." Owada replied, leaning back in his chair as always. "Far as I'm sure, the same stuff still applies. Explore the floor, say if you find anything, that sorta thing."

"If we're lucky, we can go through the rest of this without any future murders." Celes hoped drinking her tea. "I don't see many future excuses to commit murder."

"Well after what happened last time, who can say?" Yamada shrugged. "Even Hagakure committed murder, even if he was just trying to help everyone."

"Not only that, but he tried making the trial even more difficult by having three separate murderers at once." Oogami added. "If we had voted for even one of them separately, we would have all been executed in their place."

"Maybe we should make some sort of precautionary sort of plan." Ikusaba suggested. "Something to ensure that another murder doesn't happen either way."

"I completely agree with her." Kirigiri said as she stood. Ikusaba blinked at this.

_She does?_ Ikusaba asked herself in her head.

"We should all come up with an idea to ensure the next murder doesn't happen." Kirigiri continued. "Any ideas?"

"Let's have another slumber party!" Asahina suggested with excitement. Celes couldn't help but eye her strangely.

"What is with you and sleep overs?" She asked Asahina sat back in her chair with her chair with her arms crossed.

"What? I just like having sleepovers, they're fun." She replied calmly. "Besides, I still owe one for Oogami, she was on guard duty the night we were all having fun."

"Hmhm," Oogami chuckled with a grin, "I appreciate the sentiment, but I think we need a more thorough solution."

"Besides, we did attempt that last time and look what happened." Celes felt necessary to remind. Asahina frowned lowering her head.

"I think Asahina has a point though." Naegi sided. "I think we're less likely to expect a murder if we start traveling in groups most of the time."

"Didn't you just hear what I said? We already did that and it failed." Celes retorted.

"But that was only because Ishimaru joined in on the plan." Naegi argued. "Technically speaking, he was separate from the rest of us when he was murdered. And the others only managed to cover it up because they were together when he died."

"Naegi raises a good point." Kirigiri said in agreement. "It was a difficult trial, but even then, they only managed to do so because two people were covering up one murder." She turned her attention directly to Celes. "But if you have two people at once, the chances of covering up two murders at the same time would be rather difficult."

Celes stared into thought for a brief moment. She did have to admit, the chances of a murder being pulled off were far less likely if something were to occur. At the same time, that almost meant it would be more difficult if a murder WAS to occur. It would be difficult to catch anyone witty enough to pull a double murder at once.

"Well, if you insist, I will not object then." Celes nodded.

"Very well. If no one has any objections, then I believe I will organize the groups then." Kirigiri stated.

Ikusaba grumbled to herself. Knowing Kirigiri, she knew that Kirigiri would keep her and Naegi in a group all to themselves, while she places herself and someone like Yamada in another. It was unacceptable!

"We'll split into three separate groups." Kirigiri started explaining. "Yamada, Asahina, and Owada, you'll be group one. Celes and Oogami, will be group two. And naturally, that leaves Ikusaba, Naegi, and myself in group three."

"Huh?" Ikusaba was a bit surprised at this.

She did place herself in the same group as Naegi, but she was surprised how she included herself into the group as well. Then again, thinking closely on it, she realized her true point of the idea. This way, Ikusaba wouldn't have an opportunity to be alone with herself or without Naegi, and she could keep a closer eye on her.

"Umm Master Kyoko Kirigiri?" Yamada spoke up. "Not that I'm one to argue, but wouldn't it make more sense if we split up in even groups of two?"

Kirigiri shook her head. "No, this way is perfect. With these groups, we can guarantee a murder won't be pulled off." She pointed to Owada's group first. "I already know with Owada's code of honor, he won't try to murder Asahina. And I'm more than sure he'll keep her from being murdered by Yamada."

"I'd beat his ass if he tried anything..." He grumbled to Yamada, who could only shake in fear. Kirigiri then turned her attention to Oogami and Celes.

"As for the two of you, I'm putting Oogami in your group because on the chance someone tries try to murder another, I would prefer having the strongest student here alone with another." She explained.

"Kirigiri, I'm a little hurt by that." Celes said with a simple smile. Kirigiri only grinned.

"Well I'm sure you'd never commit a murder, but at the same time, it's better safe than sorry." She replied. "Which leaves us back with our group. I'm forming it so I can help keep an eye on Ikusaba since she would be alone with Naegi.

Ikusaba grinned a bit, feeling like this was her chance to expose Kirigiri's mistrust in people. "Why Kirigiri, it's not enough to just distrust Celes, but now you don't trust me?" She didn't expect Kirigiri to return the same polite smile back to her.

"Oh, it's nothing like that. I just figured with your title as the Ultimate Soldier, you would be accustomed to making traps and things. It has nothing to do with you or anything, just your title." Ikusaba tensed as Kirigiri lowered her gaze. "Unless, of course, there was a different reason you'd think I wouldn't trust you?" She hinted.

Ikusaba grumbled to herself once more. Just like that, Kirigiri threw her own words back at herself. She actually surprised her a bit with how quick and easy it was for her to respond. She must have pre-planned this conversation, as well as a dozen other conversations, for situations like this.

She could not let her guard down.

So with a smile back, she shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. I was just curious is all." She lied.

"Hey, not that I have the same probs' as Yamada or anything," Owada interrupted, "but wouldn't it make more sense to travel in like groups of four then, or maybe all together?"

"Owada's right." Asahina agreed. "If we have four in a group, then it's impossible for a murder to happen without at least one person knowing about it. And if we're all together, it won't happen for sure!"

"No." Kirigiri firmly disagreed. "If we attempt anything like that, Monokuma might become desperate in the next incentive, like the night of the slumber party. For the most part, we were all in groups of four, and it still ended badly. We risk an even greater chance of something going wrong if we all stick together."

"KIrigiri's right." Ikusaba complied. "The last thing we need is for him to try and knock us all out again, have one of us wake up to give us a random weapon, then kill two of us in the same group. Even if we did solve the murder, we'd end up losing three more friends!"

Kirigiri had to commend her. For someone she knew who was working for the puppet master, she knew how to play her role as somne who was on _their_ side quite well.

"I guess I can deal with that then." Owada finally agreed to it all.

"I never had a problem." Oogami noted. With a smile, Naegi stood proudly on the spot.

"Good. Then let's get to work!" She said enthusiastically. "We'll all meet back here in an hour to regroup."

...

...

...

Thus commenced the third class investigation since the mutual killings began. Just about everybody was optimistic about their chances with this new arrangement of traveling in groups. This way, they felt more at ease that they would be protected, or at least it would prevent another murder. Either way, the only thing they were currently concerned about was the investigation.

...At least, everyone except for Kirigiri and Ikusaba. It wasn't too surprising to be honest. They both had particular feelings for their dear friend Naegi, which neither could confront her about. Even if they did, they definitely couldn't say anything with each other's rival just feet away from their throats.

So, as far as the investigation went, things were relatively fine. The trio of girls which consisted of Naegi, Kirigiri, and Ikusaba, investigated the rooms thoroughly, wanting to make sure they didn't miss even the slightest detail when it came to the rooms.

The first room they came across was a piano room, which was sort of decorated like an orchestra theatre. There were benches aligned symmetrically with one another on both ends of the room, while a grand piano lied upon the floor on the center stage. Naegi couldn't help but smile in thought. She knew Maizono probably would've loved this room.

The next room the group investigated was the headmaster's office. They had to admit, it was an office that just screamed "HEADMASTER" to them. With a beautifully designed desk, racks which displayed various trophies and awards, and a row of pictures detailing past Headmasters perched above it, it was truly a glorious office to behold. It was practically like being in the president's own office if the room was any bigger. It even managed to support having two comfortable looking couches within the same room.

The staff room was rather interesting in it's own accord. Like the classrooms the students have seen earlier, the windows were completely bolted and sealed up by thick metal slabs. What they really found strange though were the pots of roses they found placed on each desk. It was almost as if they were meant to be a memorial for the teachers there.

Both Naegi and Kirigiri were so focused on this that neither of the two noticed as Ikusaba quietly plucked an old photo off the ground. Kirigiri glanced back at her for a moment, thinking she was up to something, but it was already too late. By the time she was looking, Ikusaba just gave her an innocent smile as she waved. Kirigiri knew she was up to something, but couldn't tell what.

Thus brought them to the final room of their search. Perhaps final isn't quite accurate, as there was a data processing room they had yet to search. Unfortunately, it was out of commission for them as the doors were securely locked. They contemplated breaking it down first, but they needed to make sure everyone was in the same position as well.

So, as mentioned, the Chemistry Lab was the last stop on their harrowing exploration. As expected, it was just that- a Chemistry Lab. The room was filled with numerous supplements, beakers, and chemicals that could have varying effects on the human body. The most notable and common one they all had, was a sure death.

But dangerous chemicals weren't the only thing located within the room, which they discovered upon closer examination. They also found other products like Protein Powder and such. They had a good idea that Oogami and Asahina would enjoy a nice relaxing Protein drink, perhaps even a shake if they made it with ice cream!

And so their examination of the Fourth Floor came to an end. Which left them traveling back the Fourth Floor's hallway towards the stairs.

"So is that everything?" Naegi asked. She thought over all the rooms they checked to make sure they didn't miss anyway.

"It should be." Kirigiri nodded, walking in bewtween her and Ikusaba once more. "Although, I guess it is a shame that NO ONE could figure out how to get into the Data Processing room though." Kirigiri commented, looking at Ikusaba expectantly. Luckily, Naegi wasn't watching the two at the time, so she managed to return the same annoyed expression.

"Well I would assume that the ONLY one who would know such a thing would be Monokuma." Ikusaba stuck her tongue out for a split second. Kirigiri proceeded to copy her.

"...Nnggh..." Naegi suddenly started to groan as she stopped to rub her head. The other two quickly shifted their attention to her with surprise.

"Are you alright?" Kirigiri asked slightly concerned.

"Y-Yeah..." Naegi moaned rubbing between her eyes. "I just... have a minor headache all of a sudden..."

"Why don't you go splash some water on your face in the bathroom?" Ikusaba recommended. They were right next to it after all, so it might have proven to be the most efficient solution for them. "Kirigiri and I will stand watch."

"Actually Naegi, why don't you use the boy's restroom instead?" Kirigiri suggested. The other two gave her a questionable look. "Knowing Owada would never hurt a lady, I'm more than positive Yamada would be the least likely to kill you if you go in there." She explained.

"You're a bit paranoid when it comes to the murders, you know that?" Ikusaba commented. KIrigiri scoffed.

"Paranoid? No. I'm only cautious." She retorted. "Besides, for all we know, the puppet master could have orchestrated this sudden happening and planted a trap in the girl's room." She hinted glaring at Ikusaba.

"Umm...is something going on with you two?" Naegi asked curiously. While she's never seen their direct interaction with each other, she couldn't help but feel some form of tension between the two. The other two quickly gave her a warm smile.

"N-No, everything's fine!" Kirigiri insisted. Ikusaba nodded at this. "We're just discussing some things that could be going on."

"Well why don't you ever discuss stuff with me?" Naegi raised her brow.

"U-Umm w-well uhhh y-you see-" Kirigiri was acutally taken back a bit by said question.

"We're keeping it confidential!" Ikusaba quickly said. Both Kirigiri and Naegi looked back at this.

"Huh?" Ikusaba looked up and down the hallway before leaning her head in closer to the group.

"You see Naegi, Kirigiri and I think there might be a spy among us working for the puppet master." She whispered. Naegi's eyes lit up in surprise.

"A sp-!"

"Shhhhh!" Ikusaba quickly shushed, looking around once more. Naegi shook her head to calm down before speaking.

"I-I mean, a spy?" She asked again, this time in a whispering tone. Ikusaba nodded again.

"The both of us were just keeping it amongst ourselves, but after what you've been through, I think we can both trust you." She said. She turned to look at Kirigiri once again. "Right Kirigiri?" She asked with a curious face.

Kirigiri couldn't believe what she just did, for numerous reasons. One, she had to applaud her for thinking of the convenient lie like that on the spot. Two, she hated her once again for pulling the little trick she just did.

By telling Naegi and insisting to her that someone ELSE within the group of students were a spy, she just severed any possible train of thought that Ikusaba herself was the spy. Sure, she could argue that the same idea doesn't mean Ikusaba isn't the spy, but at the same time, she had to agree with her.

It wasn't a matter of whether or not Naegi knew they were bickering...well that was partly it. The main issue is that if she denied it now, Naegi might question her on it. Then she would be forced to prattle on one question after the other, until Kirigiri herself claimed that Ikusaba was a spy. And naturally, Naegi would be devastated of her claim, and distrust her more!

...Now that she thought about it, maybe she was a little paranoid. Either way, she had to play ball for now, even if she hated to. So, turning back towards Naegi again, she nodded.

"Exactly." She whispered. She could tell Ikusaba was smiling inside. "We can discuss more about this later, but why don't you freshen up first?" She suggested. Rubbing her head as if to indicate it was still hurting, Naegi nodded as she walked away.

"O-Ok. I'm gonna freshen up for a minute, maybe catch my breath too." She replied. With a smile, the two waved to her as she left. Once out of sight, they stood on opposite sides of the wall, returning to their mutual glaring game once more.

Only this time, Ikusaba had a slight smirk on her face. They returned to the only game they knew how to play: name calling.

"Bitch." Kirigiri muttered.

"Ass." Ikusaba mumbled back.

"Slut."

"Tramp."

"Dyke."

"Mega Dyke."

"Super-!"

...

...

...

*splash*

"Huff..." Naegi sighed deeply as she splashed her face with cold water. "Nnngggh!" Naegi couldn't help but moan as she rubbed her head once more. The pain was really starting to get to her again.

_What the heck's going on?!_ She yelled inside her head. It was a strange sense of nausea, light-headedness, a migraine, and multiple other mental dilemmas one could temporarily suffer. Only difference was, she was suffering all of these at once! She couldn't figure out what. _Ahhhh! _She screamed in her mind once more, collapsing to her knees.

She couldn't explain it at all. She thought she could start seeing flashes going off right in front of her eyes. She knew they were just hallucinations, at least she hoped, but these felt weird to her somehow. She started to panic as her body was feeling heavier by the second.

_I-I can't... Not like this again..._ She yelled in her mind. She couldn't handle this. Not _this_ in particular, but she didn't want things like this to keep happening. She didn't want to be a burden to her friends like she felt she was. That's when she thought of something.

_My... Friends... _She thought to herself. Those were her final thoughts as she lost consciousness. She hoped to herself that this would work. Thinking of a happy thought, or thinking of something that would motivate her to keep pressing on. She had no idea if it would work. All she could tell is that she was practically reawakening where her nightmare left off...

...

_"Be quiet you bitch!" He hissed as he rolled his tongue out of her shirt. "You see the truth of the matter is, you have no choice." He told her. "You have no friends, no help, nobody, to help you. Fact of it is, no one cares about you." _

_Naegi teared up slightly as he talked. It wasn't his words or comments that frightened her, but the way he caressed his tongue around her cheeks that scared her. Her body shriveled with each touch that she felt, feeling the slimy long-ness all around her face. And it wasn't ending. _

_"Fact of the matter is, you need me." He firmly stated. Naegi's pupils dilated in fear as he began to slowly slide his tongue back into her shirt once more. "And I... I need some "things" too..." He grinned wickedly as his tongue once again began to slowly slide inside of her shirt, coming deeper and closer to her chest. _

_Nonononononoonono-! Naegi screamed inside her mind. _

_"Just face it, you're mine Naegi." He hissed once more. Naegi couldn't take it. She could feel the tears rolling down her face as his tongue came upon the edge of her bra. She could only close her eyes, weak and helpless._

_*__**WHAM!**__*_

_"Owwwah!" She suddenly heard him scream as she was dropped to the floor. _

_"Hacckthh..." Naegi coughed clearing her throat. She rubbed it slightly to ease the soreness around it. She felt someone patting her shoulder soothingly. _

_"Are you ok?" A familiar voice asked worriedly. _

_She winced as she felt the strange person wiping the tears near her face with their thumb. Focusing her sight once she stopped, she looked up to, surprisingly, see Asahina staring at her worriedly. For some reason, she couldn't stop the tears that continued flowing down her face, even if she herself wasn't feeling sad anymore. It was like she was watching through a movie. _

_Asahina was down to comfort her, that much she knew. She was kneeled down by her side, wearing the similar school uniform like her. Except in her case, she was wearing a thin brown leather coat as well, which some students tended to wear. _

_Looking ahead of her, she was even more surprised to see Owada. As usual, he was wearing his traditional biker jacket, being one of the only few people who were never in uniform. She couldn't see it from her current point of view, but he had an enraged expression on his face, fist still steaming from where the red mark on Isshiki's face recently connected. _

_"The fuck you trying to do ya fucking gecko?!" Owada angrily shouted. Isshiki surprisingly managed to get back to his feet with relative ease. It was as if Owada's monstrous strike didn't even phase him. _

_"What'ssssss it to you?" Isshiki snarled back. "You're interrupting a businesssss transaction you know." _

_"Business my ass!" Asahina yelled, hugging Naegi tightly as she wept. "He tried the same thing with me several months ago!" She stated. Owada clenched his teeth harder._

_"You fucking pig!" He growled._

_"Lassst I checked, I got a bit more action out of you." He said with a wicked smirk at Asahina._

_*clunk* _

_Madarai's eyes suddenly shifted down. He could see, without even moving, the butt of a pistol being pressed up against his chin. Standing to his side, he saw Ikusaba standing there, facing the opposite direction as him. She only hard her stern gaze focusing on him as she pressed the gun against his chin._

_"And last thing I recall, I emptied a clip into your right knee when you forcefully removed her bra." She reminded. She cocked the pistol again as if to emphasize her point. _

_Isshiki hissed angrily with this. He could easily take on the Super High School Level Gang Leader, and even the Super High School Level Mercenary. But fighting against two at once, especially while one of them already had a gun pressed against his face? He wasn't that stupid. With one more growling hiss, he crept across the hallway floor with surprising speed. _

_Waiting until he was perfectly out of side, Ikusaba let out a sigh, lowering her gun once more. She looked to her right as she Owada walking up to her side. _

_"The fuck's that guy's problem?!" He asked, still angry. _

_"Beats me." Ikusaba replied. "To be honest I'm surprised he can move at all. I unloaded at least four bullets into his knees last time I saw him, so he shouldn't be able to move much at all." The fact still confused her._

_"Well I'm mostly glad he's-!" He started as he looked back down the hallway. He quickly became enraged at the sight again. "Motherfucker!" He shouted running down the halls. "Get your fucking ass away from Maizono!" He shouted running down. _

_Ikusaba couldn't help but rub her eyes in annoyance. She had to figure out how it was that he kept coming back no matter how many times she tried to beat him, other times shoot him. But for now, her attention was brought to the sniveling girl who was still crying in Asahina's arms. Putting her gun away, she had a small smile as she kneeled over to their side._

_"Are you okay?" She asked concerned. Naegi sniffled for a few more seconds trying to clear her voice._

_"W-Wh-Why did you g-guys help me?" She hiccupped. Asahina just gave her a bright, cheerful, smile. _

_"Because we're you're friends, silly!" She insisted. Glancing briefly at Ikusaba, she nodded with a smile in agreement. Naegi wiped her eyes as she tried speaking once more. _

_"F-F-Friends?" She questioned. A part of her was in disbelief at the mention of it. "W-We're friends?" _

_"Course we are." Ikusaba agreed. _

_She couldn't believe what she heard. Ever since coming to this school, life has indefinitely been anything but normal. She's had trouble making friends of nearly any kind, no matter who she tried to speak to. Now, as if by some miracle of fate, friends actually came to her when she needed them most. She couldn't help as she felt herself tearing up once more, crying into Asahina's arms again._

_"Ehhhahhhhhahh!" She cried. Asahina just continued to smile as she comfortingly hugged her, patting her back. _

_"Hey, it's alright now, it's alright." She told her. _

"_You don't have to worry, I promise I'll keep that guy off of you from now on." Ikusaba assured. "The both of you." Ikusaba added, looking to Asahina. With a nod, the two helped Naegi up to her feet once more. Asahina kneeled again gathering Naegi's books and gear while Ikusaba helped wipe Naegi's eyes. _

"_You know I don't think we've been introduced yet either." Asahina said as she handed Naegi's stuff back. "My name's Aoi Asahina, the Super High School Level Swimmer." _

"_Pvt. Mukuro Ikusaba, Super High School Level Mercenary, reporting for duty sir!" Ikusaba said, saluting respectfully. Naegi lowered her head slightly. It's not exactly that she was shy, the issue came from the nervousness she felt if the two found out about her title. _

"_M-My name's…Makoto Naegi…" She replied quietly. She couldn't help but feel pressured as the two looked at her expectantly. She knew they wanted to know about her "Special Talent" too, but she knew that would be the end of things if she revealed it._

"_So, what's your talent?" Asahina asked curiously. Naegi hesitated to respond._

"_I-I'm….I-I'm the…High School...Good Luck." Naegi mumbled, closing her eyes as if frightened. Waiting several seconds, she opened her eyes slowly wondering why they weren't responding to her statement. They were at least giving her the same curious look like she expected. _

"_The High School Good Luck?" Asahina questioned. _

_Here it comes… Naegi told herself._

"_That sounds cool!" Asahina said with excitement. Naegi couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise. That was nowhere near the response she was expecting here. "Hey, what's it like being a Luckster? Do you win every lottery or bingo game like Nagito does?" _

_Ikusaba groaned as she rolled her eyes. "That's the last time I play any game of chance with him, I swear." She smiled back to Naegi. "Is your luck the same though?" _

"_U-Umm…N-Not really?" She mumbled scratching the back of her neck._

"_Well what does it do?" Asahina asked. "C'mon, tell us on the way to class." She said. The next thing Naegi knew, she was walking with Asahina and Ikusaba on her sides. She couldn't help but smile to herself at this. _

_Finally, after all this time around here, she could honestly say, she found herself some friends._

_Just like she told herself she had when she passed out minutes ago…_

…

...

"Naegi? Hey, she's waking up!" Kirigiri stated, looking back.

As she said, Naegi was slowly regaining consciousness again. Looking around, she discovered she was still in the boy's bathroom, surrounded by both Ikusaba and Kirigiri, who looked at their friend with worry. They were both waiting for at least ten minutes until they started growing worried. Who could blame them for suddenly panicking when they found Naegi collapsed on the floor?

"Kirigiri? Ikusaba?" She spoke. She rubbed her forehead a bit from the pain. It wasn't like the migraine she felt earlier, but this time something physical. She figured she must've bumped her head slightly when she collapsed. "What happened?"

"You tell us!" Ikusaba replied. She yelled. She was only upset for the most part. She could never truly bring herself to be mad at Naegi. "We just came in to look for you and you were out cold!"

"You were also muttering in your sleep." Kirigiri added.

"I...was?" Naegi raised her brow. "Just like this morning..." She muttered.

"Huh?"

"Ikusaba said I was doing the same thing this morning." Naegi explained.

"She was?" She asked Ikusaba directly.

"Y-Yeah! She was screaming in her sleep this morning. I thought she was in trouble at first." Ikusaba said.

*bzzzt*

With the situation as it is, Ikusaba nearly flinched as her transmitter went off. She would've flinched in a typical situation, but she couldn't give any indication to Kirigiri that she had a transmitter on her despite what she knew. She was lucky enough Kirigiri didn't get too entirely suspicious just from looking at her face, though it didn't keep her from asking a question.

"What's wrong?" Kirigiri lowered her brow in suspicion.

"A-Ah! I-I think I hear Monokuma in the hallway!" She quickly lied. "Kirigiri, stay here Naegi! He might do something if he finds out about this!" She quickly blurted, running out of the bathroom.

"Wait-!" Kirigiri tried to stop. She grumbled to herself. Naegi was her only weakness, whether directly or indirectly. She had to play on the defense, at least for now.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Naegi asked slightly worried. Kirigiri smiled back with a nod.

"O-Of course." She replied. She glared back to the door, her face out of Naegi's view. "Why wouldn't she be?" She asked with a slight grumble.

...

"What do you want NOW?" Ikusaba groaned as she spoke.

"What's this about Naegi's _dreams_ recently?" The voice on the transmitter asked. "It sounds like something maybe I should take a look at..."

Ikusaba could practically feel her partner's grin on the other side. "N-No! I-It's fine, honest."

"Are you suuuuure? I thought I heard an interesting message about a familiar Isshiki this morning...?" The voice hinted.

"I-I'll keep an eye on it, hon-!"

"Nope!" The voice said firmly, yet with glee. "I have a better idea to make sure I don't have to get involved in any way." She said. Iikusaba could only worry at the simple mention of her partner having a "plan".

"N-No, r-really, I'll handle it I swear!"

"Oh, I know YOU'LL handle it, cause if you do, and she keeps having these so called _dreams_, a little teddy bear might come to her in person for some personal therapy..." She warned.

Ikusaba couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her partner was sounding more and more erratic the more that time progressed. She couldn't understand what was going on with her all of a sudden! She couldn't take chances. She had to protect Naegi no matter what, even if it meant listening to her partner.

"Fine, then what's your bright idea?" Ikusaba rolled her eyes.

"Oooooh, don't be Ms. Pouty Wouty!" Her partner chirped with excitement. "Dis is gonna be vewy fun fow you!" She ensured.

"Oh, really? Tell me how then?"

"It's simple siwwy! You, get to go on youw beawy special date with Naegi!"

...

...

...

A/N: And just like that, tensions rise once more! Coming up next, we'll be able to see maaaaany many fans' favored, or possibly most anticipated chapter, Ikusaba's "date" with Naegi! We also apparently seem to be catching a glimpse of Naegi's "strange dreams", coincidentally consisting of her days of Hopes Peak academy. Coincidence? Of course it is ^^ Clearly it has nothing to do with the fact she has memories consisting of the exact same issues ^^...

Also, there might be a short delay with the next chp. Reason being? I might be working on a little..."secret fanfic" that I want to get a start on, and it might take some time getting the information I need pieced together to form it (information along the lines of characters...setting...etcetera)

As always, live, fav, and rev ^^ Become the 10th reviewer, and you just might see your own special bonus chapter, consisting of anything you want, in the next chapter ^^


	18. Ikusaba's and Naegi's Date?

A/N: Ok, sooooooooooooo I tried working on the Dangan Ronpa Another episode thing...not working out X/ don't get me wrong, writing it and all, but can't really get the "feel" of it yet...maybe I need to work on this more, and then get my mojo up by watching more DGR:AE videos and stuff when I have the free time to.

Anyway, time for the day you've all been waiting for, Ikusaba's "date" with Naegi...which might be slightly disappointing since it's not "date" in the usual sense given they're in a school but... you know...

Let's see where it goes!

...

...

...

"Hurry, over here." Ikusaba called out.

"What did you want to show me?" Naegi asked as she ran over. She couldn't tell what to expect since Ikusaba brought the two of them over to the closed-off stairway leading to the fifth floor.

Only several hours ago, the class investigation began as everyone searched the entirety of the school's Fourth Floor. They came to many interesting and unique rooms, including one closed off room everyone had yet to access, the Data Processing. No one could tell what to expect within the room since it was locked from the inside. The only thing they could agree on was that it was important.

Those were the results of the Class Investigation once everyone came back to the lunchroom. It wasn't the only thing to occur. During said time, while returning to the lunchroom, Naegi's head started throbbing in a familiar pain. It started out as simply a minor headache, but after trying to splash water on her face, it turned into a full blown migraine. And not in the typical sense either.

In your normal headache, your head throbs, you feel disoriented sometimes, and there's aches and pains all around. When it came to Naegi's migraine, it wasn't just your simple aches and pain. Her body slowly became heavy, her consciousness slowly began to fade out, and she felt as if lights were flashing right in front of her eyes.

Eventually, all she could do was pass out, collapsing on the floor. But it didn't end there.

Much like Naegi had the night before, she experienced a strange sort of _dream_. In her dream, she was back in an everyday school, in Hopes Peak Academy's everyday uniform, and in an everyday life. At least, if it wasn't for the nightmare she was experiencing, it would've felt like one. But the details of the dream are unimportant (read last chapter).

However, this did end up being problematic to both Ikusaba and her partner. These dreams were not just a typical hallucination or figments of her imagination. These dreams were, in truth, memories. Memories of her past life, the life she used to live when she was a regular everyday student of Hopes Peak Academy. They were memories of a more peaceful time.

It wasn't the memories in particular that concerned the duo that consisted of Ikusaba and her partner. What did trouble the duo was the secrets that lied deeply in her memories. The secrets consisting of the dreaded Tragedy, which lead the students to be locked up in this school to begin with. No matter what happened, the two could not let Naegi expose those secrets, provided that they ever actually return to her to begin with.

With the fact she was remembering events just months before the Tragedy, neither of the duo could tell if she would ever remember the Tragedy at all. They needed to do something though in the event that Naegi DID regain her lost memories. Ikusaba had her idea, which consisted of simply keeping an eye on Naegi and telling her it was a dream, but her partner had other plans. And Ikusaba knew these plans would only end in disaster for Naegi.

So, to prevent such a case, Ikusaba bargained with her partner for any and all possible alternatives. After much planning between one another, it was decided; Ikusaba would get the "date" she wished for so much, while at the same time, keep an eye on Naegi's memories to see how much she would and could recall.

There was only one catch...

Once Naegi reached the blocked staircase, Naegi took a moment to look around.

"So what was it you wanted to meet me about?" Naegi asked curiously.

Ikusaba's heart raced slightly with joy. She's been waiting for this moment for who knows how long, even if it wasn't "officially" a date. Taking the time to look around, Ikusaba leaned closer to Naegi as she began talking quietly. The entire time she started talking, she was holding on of her hands behind her back.

She was pretending to be oblivious to the fact that Kirigiri was listening in on their conversation from the corner of the hallway. Of course her partner informed her of Kirigiri's eavesdropping, especially after she snuck in to their last conversation without Monokuma's knowing.

"I have something to show you." Ikusaba said, pulling out the tickets from her pocket. Naegi eyed the tickets curiously.

"What are those?" She asked.

"They're something called Monokuma Tickets."

"Monokuma Tickets?" Naegi questioned.

Ikusaba nodded. "Yeah, they're a gift that Monokuma gave me." Naegi looked at her with even more confusion.

"Why did you get a gift from Monokuma?" Even if Naegi wasn't entirely aware of Ikusaba's secrets, she wasn't completely oblivious either. She knew when something seemed off. Ikusaba sighed in response.

"You remember how I was trapped on the third floor until about a week ago?" She asked. Naegi nodded. "Well during the time, he kept pestering me and made me do odd things here and there." Naegi raised her brow.

"What kind of weird things?"

"I rather not talk about 'em." Ikusaba replied with a slight frown. "But just trust me when I say they were a little weird. The last one involved me giving him a three-hour, something he calls, a "Full-Beary Massage", or something. I had to rub his back for three hours straight." Naegi couldn't help but feel a slight smirk on the edge of her smile.

"Heheh," she chuckled, "sorry but that seems kind of silly. I mean he's a robot and all, remember?"

Ikusaba tapped her chin. "I know, it was weird for me too." She agreed as she smiled once again. "But he gave me these tickets in return for them, so it wasn't completely pointless I guess." She explained. "Here, you can keep one of them." She said, handing over one of the tickets to her.

Naegi eyed the tickets once again. "So what are they for?" Ikusaba shifted her eyes away with a slight blush.

"Umm...w-well..." She switched Naegi's to the picnic basket her was hiding behind her back. "The tickets allow us to spend a few hours in one of the rooms together." She couldn't keep herself straight as she got closer to revealing the truth. "S-So...I was wondering I-if..." She gulped quietly to herself. "I-If you..." She took a deep breath as she tried to finish.

"Huff, do you wanna have dinner with me? I know a perfect room up there that has a peaceful feeling to it." She couldn't tell if it was obvious, but she was shaking slightly. Of her experiences from nearly everything the world had to offer, nothing had made her as nervous asking Naegi out on an unofficial date. It made her mind numb and her heart race from the tension.

At the same time, their little eavesdropper was watching in shock. Kirigiri couldn't believe what she just heard, nor could she believe Ikusaba. Of all the things for her to try, even with Kirigiri there, she was unable to accept it. She had just asked Naegi out on a date. A "Date" date. Her face was flustered with a red blush, though if you knew how pissed she currently was, you could also end up mistaking the red flush as anger.

_You...BITCH!_ Kirigiri was forcing herself to squeeze her jaw shut, just to keep from exploding in anger. She didn't care if Monokuma or Ikusaba knew if she was there or not, not that she could tell if they knew she was listening in on them or not. She just couldn't believe she would have the gall of all people to ask _her _Naegi out on a date!

Back with the other two, Ikusaba currently had her own set of thoughts going on.

_Please don't say no, please don't say no, please don't say no... _She kept yelling in her mind. It wasn't an official date, but it was the closest thing she would get to one ever since she met with Naegi. Naegi couldn't help but scratch the side of her.

"You want to just have dinner with the two of us?" She asked. Ikusaba nodded nervously.

"I-If it's not any trouble or anything." Ikusaba replied. "I m-mean I know it might sound weird, but uhhh..." She thought to herself quickly trying to think of an excuse. "I-I thought we could do some extra work on each other while we're at it." She felt a lump in her throat as she realized what she said.

_PLEASE DON'T MISINTERPRET THAT!_ She screamed in her head.

"Work...?" Naegi couldn't figure out what she meant by that. She didn't show any sign of responding until she gasped. "Oh, now I get it!" Ikusaba panicked.

"Y-You d-d-do?" She stuttered.

"Yeah!" Naegi leaned in closer as she spoke quieter. "This is like a secret mission thing, isn't it? You want to spend the time to investigate the fifth floor early, don't you?"

Ikusaba felt her sweat drop behind her head. Of course Naegi would misinterpret this, but on the plus side, it wasn't in the way she was expecting. With how she pretended to include Naegi in hers and Kirigiri's "secret group" earlier within the day, she could only assume Naegi thought this was part of some mission to investigate without the others knowing. After all, they had to make sure the "Spy", even though it was Ikusaba, didn't know about their plan. With a hearty smile, Ikusaba had no choice but to nod.

"Y-Yeah...that's exactly it." She replied. "I mean we can't let the spy know ahead of time, right? That's why it's only for the two of us."

"I see." Naegi smiled. "And we can actually have some dinner at the same time while we're at it."

"Exactly." Ikusaba walked up to the sides of the star's gate as she pulled out another ticket. Naegi was a bit surprised. She never noticed how the sides of the stairs had this strange control-looking panel on the sides. Then again, given how people usually aren't too focused on the sides of stairs, it wasn't too uncommon she guessed.

Raising her ticket up in front of her, Naegi watched as the strange panel shot out a small red light, trailing the ticket up and down. Once it disappeared, it began making strange beeping noises for a few seconds, then finally ended in a ding.

"Just remember Naegi," Ikusaba spoke up as she looked back, "we can only visit one room for several hours, so we can't go anywhere else." She explained. Naegi waited for several more seconds as she began typing some strange code into the panel soon after. By her guess, it was probably some strange confirmation code so she could select which room she wanted to visit.

Kind of like when picking out candy from a vending machine.

With that, and a low rumbling sound, the gates finally began to rise, disappearing as it was raised into the ceiling.

"So, you ready to go?" Ikusaba asked smiling, holding out her hand for Naegi to take.

"Yeah, let's go!" Naegi nodded in excitement.

Ikusaba's heart fluttered a bit as Naegi grabbed her hand. Even if she had to _pretend_ that everything was _pretend _for Naegi's sake, she would still relish every moment she had with it. With a smile, the quickly raced up the stairs with Naegi following right by her side. Once the two were finally up the stairs, the gate slowly began descending to the ground.

And Kirigiri took the opening before her. In a mad dash, she quickly bolted towards the gate, attempting to make it to the other side before it closed for good. It might have been descending slowly, but given how far she was from it, she had to ensure she got through it before it closed completely.

With only several seconds left before it closed, just mere feet away from the gate, Kirigiri gave herself a quick burst of speed as she swiftly dived under it. A tuck and a roll after, she successfully made it passed the gate, smiling to herself on a victory on her part. Any victory she could achieve against Ikusaba and the Headmaster she would gladly enjoy.

Now to see what the fifth floor would offer her...

...

...

...

"Whoooah..." Naegi awed in surprise.

Most schools these days have a classroom filled with plants. Whether this was a simple garden room, or some greenhouse attachment to the school, campuses occasionally had a room just for plants. This room was not anything of the sort. It wasn't a greenhouse, or a garden room. In fact, the overall reason of the room had nothing to do with plants at all.

It was a dojo.

What made this dojo so different however, was the immense size of it. Most dojos were just your typical training or sparing room, with wooden floors and doors all around. The fact this school could support a dojo to begin with was an amazement of itself.

This dojo was far beyond your average one. Spanning in practically ninety-by-ninety feet, this dojo was large enough to not only contain a full-sized archery range inside of it, but it was also large enough to actually accommodate two entire rows of Cherry Blossom trees! Just the fact there were trees inside a room was amazing in itself. And making them cherry blossoms in addition added a beautiful, scenic, atmosphere to the room, truly giving the cultural Japanese feeling to it this place.

There was only one thing blocking them from completely enjoying the scenery.

"What the heck is this doing here?" Ikusaba grumbled.

In front of the two stood another caged-like gate that blocked them off from the rest of the dojo. It separated them from the beautiful cherry blossom side of the room, trapping them between the doorway and what little of the dojo they could actually experience. And while they could just keep to themselves and have their _date_ on their side of the dojo, it didn't give the same stunning atmosphere that Ikusaba wanted their special little time to have.

"This wasn't here at all the first time I was here!" Ikusaba growled.

"First time?" Naegi asked.

"I explored some of the rooms around the school with other tickets I had." Ikusaba lied.

It was pretty easy lie to come up with, so she wasn't too worried about it. What was irritating though was the fact she had a pretty good assumption as to who lowered the gate or why they did so. It made Ikusaba boil on the inside.

"This wasn't here the first time though!" Ikusaba grumbled again.

Naegi felt a little sorry for her. She figured Ikusaba must have really wanted to enjoy sitting around the trees while the two of them ate. She had to admit, the room did give it a nice peaceful feeling to it. Just looking around it was enough for her to already feel an overwhelming sense of peace and serenity, even after all she's been through. It was almost enough to make her forget her problems, and that was saying a lot.

Wanting to find some way to ease her, she started looking around the room. In addition to searching the room for any clues that could help everyone else solve the mysteries of the school, she was also looking for some means to opening the gate. She didn't have much to look through, though.

The most she came across were bows and arrows, which she wanted to avoid due to obvious reasons. Aside from that, the only other things she could search were the lockers all around the walls. It was her only other choice to search through as Ikusaba moaned to herself in sadness.

That's when she found one particular locker that really stuck out to her, at least after she opened it.

"Hey Ikusaba, I think you should look at this." Naegi suggested. Turning back, Ikusaba became surprised at the same sight.

Within the recent locker that Naegi opened, there were two different sized Kimonos waiting for them. The first one on the left, she presumed was for her. It was had a pure light purple color all around it with silver trims along the sleeves. As to why she presumed it was for it, it was due to the difference in size compared to the other kimono.

The other kimono had a bright yellow color all around it. Unlike hers, the other Kimono had a pattern of red-outlined flowers all across it. There were about several in the front, the back, and even several on the sleeves. She could presume this one was meant for Naegi since it seemed to be shorter than the purple one.

And below both kimonos were two pairs of Geta, or Japanese footwear. Both of them were traditional clogs with a black strap for their feet.

Aside from all this, the only other thing that stuck out was the piece of paper taped on Ikusaba's kimono. It was presumably meant for her to read since it had her name labeled on the back. Reaching over Naegi's shoulder, she untapped it from the kimono and read it to herself.

_**Just a little something to help "set the mood" with your date. No "Thank You's" are necessary, let's just say this makes us even for the little pool incident earlier. Remember, you're still entitled to one favor.**_

_**-Monokuma**_

Ikusaba couldn't help but grin slightly at this.

_"Sis, you really know how to make it up to someone..."_ She thought to herself

"What does it say?" Naegi asked. Ikusaba suddenly snapped out of her trance-like state, shaking her head briefly as she looked back.

"Hmm? Oh, t-this?" Ikusaba chuckled nervously, quickly tearing up the piece of paper. "O-Oh, this well...Eh hem." Ikusaba cleared her throat as she started to explain. "Apparently, that dumb bear requires some dress code or something. So we can't enter the dojo unless we...umm..." She scratched her chin nervously with a light blush. "W-We need to change into these... uniforms as a requirement."

"O-Oh..." Naegi had a slight blush too as she looked back.

She's never actually worn a Kimono before, so she really didn't know what to say. Nor did she actually understand the true idea of this. At the same time, she didn't really want to disappoint Ikusaba either, since she was nice enough to bring the two of them up here to investigate early. And she chose her out of all people, so Naegi wanted to do whatever she could to prove her usefulness.

"Well, let's just change then." Naegi said with a smile. Ikusaba thought she died for a moment when she said this.

"R-Really?" Ikusaba asked. She was still in disbelief.

"Yeah. I mean they're just kimonos and sandals right?" Naegi commented.

Ikusaba could only smile brighter in her own head as Naegi handed her the larger sized Kimono and the Geta below it. Handing it to her, Naegi then took her own kimono from the hangar, opening it up to wear. By the time she stretched her right arm through the sleeve however, she was stopped.

"Umm Naegi?" Ikusaba interrupted with a slight blush. "You umm... You need to take your other clothes off first before putting them on." She explained. Naegi flinched from surprise at this as a red blush covered over her face.

"O-O-Oh!" Naegi stuttered. Staring into thought for a few moments, Naegi shrugged to herself. "I-I guess... Y-Yeah, I guess that's ok." She complied.

Smiling again, Ikusaba continued unbuttoning her white shirt, pulling it off with ease once she finished. She followed this with sliding her skirt down her legs and taking off her shoes. Taking only a second to decide, she figured it would be better to remove her socks as well so the Geta would become a better fit.

Looking back at her Kimono, she smiled both inward and out. She couldn't believe her sister went through the trouble of getting this for her, but it's not like she could blame her. Ikusaba knew that her sister was still the same, typical, goofy self that she once knew and loved. Even if her methods were a bit off, she was clearly trying to make it up to Ikusaba in her own special way.

Pulling her arms and herself through the kimono, she grabbed the bright blue sash that came along with it, or the Obi as the Japanese would call it. As she tied it around herself, she was surprised by how well and snug the kimono was on her. It was practically a perfect fit, only having about an inch or two of slack to it.

With one final tug, she smiled as she looked down to herself. The kimono idea was definitely her sister's best plan yet. The Geta were a bit strange for her to get a feel for, but then again, seeing how she was an everyday mercenary, wearing flip-flops were usually outside the basic norm for her.

"Mmmh...ngh..." Naegi cold be heard groaning.

Ikusaba looked back curiously to see what the commotion was all about. On the bright side, she finally had her kimono on like Ikusaba. The only problem she appeared to be having though was the obi she continued to mess with while her back was turned to Ikusaba.

"What's wrong Naegi?" Ikusaba asked concerned.

"Mmmmmh..." Naegi moaned. "I can't get this thing to stay on."

"You need help tying the Obi?"

"The what?" Naegi asked turning around.

*_ssnnnnnnntttttttt_*

"Ahhh!" Ikusaba turned around quickly.

With one simple glance, Naegi managed to make Ikusaba's entire face beat red after revealing herself for a single second. With tears of joy in her eyes, and a nose that was currently bleeding, Ikusaba caught a glimpse of her own personal heaven.

Naegi was just too innocent for her to blame. It wasn't her fault or anything, that was a factor. In fact, Ikusaba could only blame herself for making such a mistake instead. She should have been a bit more specific when she said Naegi had to undress before putting the kimono on. She expected her to remove her shirt and skirt. Her socks were something that could go either way with wearing a Kimono.

What Naegi hadn't understood, that she was supposed to keep her Bra or Panties on. Because of this, Ikusaba caught a full glimpse of what she prayed her future would consist of. Sure, she might have seen Naegi in the nude before, but there was something about fact you were required to be in the nude whenever you took a shower that took the "magic" away.

Not only that, but being able to see her like that, all innocent looking in front of her, with a kimono slung off of her...it only made things more adorable for Ikusaba to bare witness to.

"What's wrong?" Naegi tilted her head, wondering why Ikusaba suddenly shrieked.

"O-Oh! Umm...I-I just... realized my nose was bleeding, that's all." She replied. Her nose was actually bleeding. The reasons, though, she'd rather not say.

"Are you ok?" Naegi asked worriedly. "Maybe we should head back downstairs to stop the bleeding."

"N-No no no!" Ikusaba quickly shook her head and hands. "I-It's fine! I-In fact I think the bleeding already stopped." She stated.

"Well, can you help tie this sash thing then?" Naegi asked walking over. Ikusaba had to mentally strain herself just to refrain from having another nosebleed. It became harder with each step Naegi took closer to her.

"S-S-Sure! J-Just turn around and keep the kimono shut tight, ok?" She told her.

Naegi smiled as she nodded, doing as she was told. Ikusaba sighed mentally as she kneeled down. She was glad Naegi turned around when she did too, because the strain it was putting on Ikusaba's mind was really taking it's toll on her. She calmly tied the sash from behind Naegi, giving it a quick tug once she finished to make sure it was snug.

"There you go. How's that?" Ikusaba wanted to make sure the Kimono was comfortable. Taking a look at her sleeves and legs which were covered, she smiled.

"It feels great!" She replied. "It's like a robe, I feel like I'm wearing nothing at all."

*_ssnntttt*_

Ikusaba had to turn away again for one last time as that simple comment was enough to make her nose bleed once more. Following this, the two looked as they heard the metal gate blocking off the rest of the dojo beginning to hum. Just like the gate to the stairways, it began to raise into the ceiling, disappearing as it rose.

With the blocking gate out of their way, the two smiled as they saw the scenery around them. With it fully exposed to the two, Ikusaba and Naegi smiled as they walked right in. It felt even more peaceful walking into the dojo for Naegi. Watching the cherry blossoms fall from the top, and the ground below them actually feeling like dirt, it almost made Naegi believe she was outside once more.

For the first time she since she's come to this school, Naegi finally felt like she could rest...

...

...

...

"Damn it!" Kirigiri cursed to herself quietly.

While Ikusaba and Naegi were busy, off on their own secret "mission", Kirigiri took the liberty to explore the remainder of the fifth school floor. She could easily assume she was being watched, seeing how there were still numerous cameras all throughout the fifth floor. It would be impossible for her to believe the puppet master wasn't watching her at this time.

However, it probably didn't matter anymore if she was being watched or not. Every single room she came across, every single nook and cranny she tried to investigate, they were all locked off to her. She couldn't so much as even turn a door nob, all of them practically frozen to the door itself.

She knew this idea wouldn't work in the end of things. Knowing for a fact Ikusaba was working for the headmaster, she should've expected them to have some sort of plan in case she tried to sneak onto the fifth floor of the academy.

Thinking back earlier, she remembered watching as Ikusaba typed in some code to the control panel near the stairs. By her guess, she assumed it somehow ended up locking all other floors on the fifth floor, save for the one Ikusaba and Naegi were currently in.

Sighing to herself, she did the only thing she assumed would work. She decided to go and pay a visit to Naegi and Ikusaba to see what they were up to...

...

...

...

"Aww there's nothing up here." Naegi frowned.

With the gate raised and their entryway cleared, the two entered the dojo as planned. Thinking their main plan was to investigate the fifth floor, Naegi took the opportunity to explore the room as much as possible, trying to see if she could find anything useful to report back to the group downstairs. If she could, she could finally feel better about herself, and feel like less of a burden to the rest of them.

Sadly, there wasn't much else to go by. As large as the room was, it only stretched to the end of the Archery Range, and with the trees in the way, there wasn't much to examine as far as the sides of the room go.

Ikusaba herself wasn't really even trying to help either. All she cared about was starting up their date which she wished for for so long. So after spending about several minutes of pretending to help search, she finally settled down near the trees in the middle of the Archery Range.

"Well, I guess we might as well not waste our time then." Ikusaba replied.

It took every ounce of strength for her to keep from sounding enthusiastic. Smiling to herself, she gently placed the basket by herself, watching as Naegi came over. It did bother her slightly to see her so discouraged, but she knew it was to be expected.

"I still wish we could've found something useful." Naegi sighed as she took a seat near Ikusaba.

"Hey, it's alright." Ikusaba patted her shoulder with a sympathetic smile. "We searched as hard as we could. Besides we got more tickets to use after, remember?" Naegi smiled a bit.

"Yeah, I guess...I still kind of wish we could've found something." She said. "It would've been nice to return something useful back to the group, you know."

"Hey, hey, enough of that negative talk, alright?" Ikusaba patted her back calmly. "You're already useful to everyone. If it wasn't for you, we would've lost the last trial, remember?" She reminded giving her a quick hug. "You're just as important as the rest of us here."

"Hmhmhm." Naegi chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I have been useful at some times."

"That's the spirit! Now let's eat!" Ikusaba said with cheer.

_"We're finally on a date!_" She yelled in her head. "_Scooooooooooore!_" She couldn't stop her heart from racing. She was now relishing every moment she had with Naegi. And with a smile, she pulled out a couple of sandwiches and soda from the basket.

"Here you go." Ikusaba handed the sandwich to Naegi with glee. Naegi took it upon herself to grab one of the sodas.

"Thanks." Naegi's face lit up with surprise as she took her first bite. "Oooh! It's pure strawberry jam and regular butter." She looked at Ikusaba curiously. "How did you know I liked this? This is my favorite kind of sandwich!" Ikusaba shifted her eyes away and scratched her cheek nervously.

"Oh, umm...Y-You know, lucky guess." She lied.

"Well it tastes great, thanks." Naegi thanked with a smile.

Ikusaba couldn't help but watch with excitement as Naegi enjoyed the sandwich she prepared for her. With each thing she did that Naegi enjoyed, the more content Ikusaba felt. It was like every single thing that made Naegi smile brought a little more heaven to her personal self.

"So...Naegi..." Ikusaba turned away as she felt a slight blush take over her face. "Y-You know...W-We haven't really gotten a chance to talk to one another since we met."

Swallowing what she had, Naegi looked at her with curiosity. "Wow, you're right. We really haven't had much time to just relax, have we?"

"I-It's not that I blame you, of course!" Ikusaba assured. "We've just...been busy, you know? We really haven't had a chance to just talk with one another because of Monokuma."

This was true no matter which way you looked at it. Whether Naegi was dealing with a class murder, or dealing with one of Monokuma's incentive, she had yet to fully have a normal, simple, chat with Ikusaba.

She actually regretted this a bit. Ikusaba was been one of her closest friends she made ever since she met her. Above that, she has yet to show her any signs that she'll end up betraying Naegi. Sure, the others have yet to do that either, but at the same time, she's never really had much time to socialize or interact with the others.

Which means this was her chance to finally have a normal talk with one another, one where she wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted or Monokuma showing up.

Well at least without being interrupted.

"Ok, then first question!" Naegi decided to start the conversation. "What's it like being a mercenary and all? Does it pay good and stuff?"

Ikusaba smiled. She was loving this moment, just like she loved Naegi. "Well, if you must know, it has it's...interesting moments." Ikusaba tapped her chin in thought. "Most of the time, I'm actually only dealing with small things, like turf wars and such. I actually rarely deal with wars involving two whole countries or more."

"I think I'm more surprised that you'd be hired for any wars to be honest." Naegi admitted. "I mean, you're just a high school student you know. I mean, even if you were great at it, I'm surprised your parents would be okay with it."

"Oh...yeah..." Ikusaba lowered her head as she frowned. It took several seconds for Naegi to understand what was wrong.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Naegi apologized with a small hug. Ikusaba just smiled back, returning her hug by just using her right arm.

"Nah, it's ok. I've been an orphan since I was little. My sister and I pretty much just had each other growing up."

"Oh yeah...your sister..." Naegi lowered her head at this. Now Ikusaba was giving her the warm hug.

"Hey, I already told you, nothing's your fault, ok? Don't blame yourself." She comforted.

"D-Don't worry... I won't..." Naegi said sniffling. "So what was your sister like? I bet you had a lot of fans to deal with, right?"

"Actually, no." Ikusaba revealed. "I mean sure we had the occasional person coming around for an autograph, but we never had to deal with mobs and all." She looked irritated as she looked up. "Although, we had a bunch of perverts every now and then. Those guys were a bunch of pigs."

Naegi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I bet. I actually thought being a model would've been nice when I was younger. There was something else that would have bothered me though."

"What's that?" Ikusaba asked with a raised brow.

"Well, aside from fans or even pervs like you said, it would have been a hassle trying to deal with school work and modeling all at once." She replied.

"Hmhm." Ikusaba chuckled as she smiled.

_"Naegi's so innocent..."_ She told herself.

As much as she wished to continue feeling like this, she knew she had a more, at least to her partner's sense, important mission on hand. She wished she could keep talking like this back and forth to each other, but she indefinitely had to follow her orders. If not, she would definitely fear what her partner would try to do in order to "fix" this situation.

"So Naegi, umm..." She turned away as she tried to think. She couldn't obviously just say something like "Oh hey Naegi, those dreams you keep having are actually memories, can you tell me about them" or anything. She needed to make sure she kept herself calm and concise as she tried to figure out how to question her.

"What's wrong?" Naegi couldn't help but notice Ikusaba's sudden pause in talking.

"I-I was just... I was wondering if you could tell me more about these dreams you keep having." Ikusaba requested.

"Huh?"

"W-Well I understand if you wouldn't like to or anything b-but..." Ikusaba paused as she lowered her head. "O-On second thought, n-nevermind, you don't have to say anything."

"No, no, it's ok!" Naegi shook her head. "I don't mind, really, but..." Naegi scratched the back of her head. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because of...mmm..." Ikusaba had to think of a quick excuse, fast. "W-Well it's a soldier thing, you know? A soldier needs to be at their A-game, and they need keep a focused and clear head." She explained smiling back to her. "I mean it would be problematic if you kept having these strange dreams and no one knew how to help you, right?"

Naegi could only shrug in response. "Hmm...Yeah, I guess that makes sense." She replied. Ikusaba sighed in relief. "But I still don't know what you want to know." Naegi added. She curled her legs up into her chest, hugging onto them softly. "They're just... really weird, you know?"

"At first... I thought they were nightmares, or some hallucination after I was drowning. But within the last day alone, I've had several dreams of the same kind. They always have to do with us being here in Hopes Peak, but before all this happened. It's like... I really don't know how to describe it." Naegi explained.

Ikusaba frowned on the inside. Of course Naegi wouldn't know how to describe it. How could she? She has absolutely no idea that everything she's seen in these so-called dreams of hers are actually memories of her time here long ago. Having them effectively erased thanks to Ikusaba and her partner, nearly everyone within this school has no idea of what's happened to the outside world. They barely have an understanding what's been happening around them for that matter! And that's the way it had to be.

Everything that's happened up to this point was set in stone to begin the witch hunts. To weed out all the hope throughout the world in order to ensnare and execute any and all fragments of hope that would try to save these kids. But it's not like Ikusaba totally thought this was wrong.

In this way, the classmates she's come to know and love get to live out their lives here in peace, or what would be peace if the mutual killings didn't occur. Inside here, whether or not she wanted to admit it, hope could thrive, and live in blissful serenity, all the while the outside world would continue to burn and rot to the ground. Within these halls, it was more of a sanctuary than a prison, being completely sealed off from the madness of the outside world. It was the only place one could really call home. Perhaps you could even call it more than that compared to the rest of the world.

You could call it paradise.

"M-Maybe its a new form of trauma?" Ikusaba suggested, catching Naegi's attention.

"Trauma?"

Naegi remembered her past trauma with the bathroom, a trauma she still owed Ikusaba for helping her overcome. It would only show up or assault her mind whenever she so much as looked at the bathroom. Strangely, this time around, her trauma was appearing before her in her dreams. Not only that, but it was also causing her to grow migraines and pass out during the day.

Sure, it was only one day since she started having these dreams, so for all she knew it was just a one-day-thing. On the other hand, this could keep happening to her day after day, and could become worse as time went on. With the events that have lead up to this point, she absolutely refused to be a burden any longer, even if the rest didn't see her as such.

"Yeah, trauma!" Ikusaba continued. "Maybe something happened before hand that's causing you to suffer these dreams. What was the last thing you remember when this started?"

Naegi lowered her head. It wasn't easy to continue bringing this up over and over again.

"You remember, don't you?" Naegi wondered. "It had to do with... when I died." She revealed.

Ikusaba gritted her teeth nervously. She absolutely hated herself for asking Naegi about anything that resulted with her own death. No one would want to keep bringing up their own death again and again. You wouldn't be able even say it without images or memories flowing back into your mind. It was enough to make anyone go insane.

"When I was...dying... I had my dream for the first time." Naegi revealed. "At first I thought I was just suffering some strange hallucination as a result of dying, but now...now I'm not too sure. Do you have any ideas?"

Of course she had an idea. She just wasn't supposed to say it.

"Well..." Ikusaba lifted her head up as she stared into thought. "In my opinion...it's definitely trauma." She proposed.

"But why is it affecting me like this?" Naegi was utterly confused. "Before when I had trauma, it was only limited to my bathroom. Now when I have it, it's happening randomly and anywhere."

"Then perhaps it just means you find everything traumatizing."

"Now you lost me..."

"Look, think of it this way;" Ikusaba gave Naegi her attention as she continued, "right now, we all know that in this school, we have a chance of dying, right?"

"Yeah..." Naegi nodded in understanding.

"Well, with that being said, perhaps it's your subconscious that's affecting you." Ikusaba claimed. Naegi tilted her head at this.

"My subconscious?" She repeated.

"Mhhm!" Ikusaba nodded. "See, your subconscious knows all about this just like you do. Because of all the stress you're going through, it might be trying to force you into some sort of self-hypnosis."

Now Naegi was getting surprised. "You mean I can hypnotize myself?"

"Yeah! It might be like a defense mechanism, you know? It's causing you to have strange hallucinations and dreams to calm down your stress levels so you don't lose it."

"..." Naegi rubbed her chin as she tried to think. "So...you're saying all these hallucinations and dreams are... Some form of defense mechanism. And they're... They're trying to make me imagine a more peaceful or happier version of this school?" Ikusaba gave a bright smile as she nodded.

"Exactly! Everything you think you're seeing is just some big hallucination with your mind. It's trying to trick you into dreaming of a happier setting, or some fantasy where this school's not as stressful like it is now." Ikusaba finished.

"Huh..." Naegi took the time to process everything she just said.

As strange as she found her dreams to be, Ikusaba's proposal actually did make a lot of sense to her. Considering she barely has an understanding of how the human mind works to begin with, she really didn't have any room to argue. Then again, even if she did understand parts of the human mind, she probably wouldn't be able to argue anyway.

The human mind was a complex thing, like some super computer. There were numerous things it did, different parts that make it up, and over a dozen functions it provided for the whole of the human body. For her to even try and find a flaw in Ikusaba's reasoning was out of the question. There was no way she could even bring herself to argue with a soldier's reasoning anyway.

"Yeah...I guess that does make sense." Naegi said with a smile. Ikusaba ignored the static she heard over the transmitter, but paid attention to the voice as it spoke.

_"Atta girl!" _Her partner cheered over the transmitter. _"See what happens when you follow my instructions? Things work out for everyone!"_ Her partner finished, cutting off the transmission.

"See? It's all in your head." Ikusaba patted Naegi's head gently.

"Yup. I guess I can tell the others that it was nothing then." Naegi stated with a shrug.

"Yea-?" Ikuasba suddenly re-processed what she just said. "W-Wait, what?"

"Well yeah, I mean I have to tell the others in case they see me passed out later on, right?" Naegi shrugged again. "I mean I don't want them to panic if I start passing out every now and then."

Ikusaba squeezed the tips of her fingers as she tensed up. Of course Naegi would want to tell the others about her strange dreams and hallucinations. She had to after all, given how it would be awkward if she just suddenly collapsed while in the middle of a meeting or something.

Naturally Ikusaba couldn't allow that. Even if the rest of them were just as oblivious to the truth as Naegi, she knew Kirigiri would definitely take notice of this. She would do everything in her power to discover the truth of these hallucinations for herself. And by the time she came up with an idea, she would immediately tell the rest of the students.

"N-No..." Ikusaba spoke up. "Naegi, you can't tell anyone about this." Ikusaba spoke in a firm tone. Naegi lowered her brow with worry.

"W-Why?" She asked.

"Because...Because it could put your life at risk!"

"It could?"

"Y-Yeah! It'll put your entire life at risk!" Ikusaba leaned a bit closer to Naegi as she said this.

"How?"

"Well...Ok, think of it like this. For the time being, we're not going to have any murders, and hopefully never will even after the next motive Monokuma proposes. But if someone does try to murder someone else, they could easily target you!" Ikusaba exclaimed.

"B-But how?" Naegi was still confused.

"Think about it. If they found out you pass out every now and then, they could use that to their advantage. They could try and wait for an opportunity where you're passed out and under a hallucination, and then they would try and kill you!" She explained.

Naegi jumped a little in realization. Ikusaba was right about all this! At any point, when the next motive and murder would come, someone could try to use Naegi's recent trauma to their advantage. It would be easy to take Naegi out once she's passed out. For that matter, she could even be dragged to some other location and murdered there, making the murder eve harder!

"Wow… I guess you're right about that." Naegi final agreed. "But what do I do if I suddenly pass out again?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." Ikusaba promised. "If I find you passed out, I'll guard the place and hide you somewhere, or I'll take you back to your room." She said each and every word with certainty. She would not let anything bad happen to Naegi as long as she was around her.

"Ok…thanks." Naegi nodded to her feeling safe. She decided to take a small break from their chat and took one of the small cans of soda from the basket.

*_clizzzz_*

"_Naegi…_" Ikusaba smiled to herself as she watched Naegi drink.

She knew it, and constantly showed it whenever she could. She loved Naegi. She loved everything about her! She was innocent, she was forgiving. She tried to find the bright side of everything in life, even during the truly terrible times. And there was something else she loved too.

She couldn't describe it. It was supposed to be an aspect that she hated. She couldn't understand it, but for some reason… she liked Naegi's hope. She didn't know why either. She was opposed to hope in all manners and aspects. She was suppose to despise it with every fiber of her being, even if it didn't mean she had to truly despise Naegi or others for being hopeful.

But there was something about Naegi and her hope, something that felt almost different to her. She couldn't grasp what it was though. As far as she knew, Naegi was just an everyday, ordinary teenage girl with an everyday teenage life. She had no considerable perks that she excelled at, no unique qualities that separated her from the rest, and was just as innocent as a regular child.

So why did she find herself so attracted to this single girl?

She was almost like her sister, who bathed in an endless sea of Despair, while Naegi's was hope. They were like two opposites of the same coin, yet Ikusaba loved the both of them. Sure, they had their own qualities that made the two entirely different, yet no matter how she looked at it, they were somehow entirely similar as well.

It made her confused. Part of it made her angry. And yet…It also left her…wanting. She could easily tell this as she felt her fingers tighten around her hands. She had to show it to Naegi, just how much she loved her. She had to do it before she totally lost it.

"N…Naegi?" Ikusaba spoke up.

"Hmm?" Naegi mumbled looking back.

"Can… Can you close your eyes for a minute." She requested. She used every ounce of strength to keep herself from blushing.

"Hmm? Why?" Naegi asked curiously.

"I- ehh…I have a present for you!" She lied.

"A… Present?"

Ikusaba nodded. "Yeah, j-just trust me. I… I really want you to have it. You trust me, right?" That was the only question Naegi needed to hear to smile.

"Of course I trust you Ikusaba." She replied.

"Good. Just… close your eyelids for a minute, and I'll get it." She told her. She pretended to search through the basket to add on to her scheme. It worked without question as Naegi closed her eyes with anticipation, wondering what was the gift she was about to receive. "And no peeking!" Ikusaba reminded.

"I won't, I won't." Naegi promised, closing her eyelids tighter. She couldn't help but feel all giddy like a child about to receive a present. It made her excited.

Waiting until she was assured Naegi wasn't looking, Ikusaba closed the lid. Her lips were already trembling from nerves. She was about to do it! She was about to give her first true kiss to someone, and someone she didn't plan on losing anytime soon.

"_Naegi…I love you…_" Ikusaba thought to herself as she prepared.

Slowly, hesitating with every inch as she got closer, she leaned towards Naegi. She couldn't watch it herself, she was too excited! She didn't want to take the chance she might jump at the last moment or anything. She closed her eyes, ready.

_"This is it…This is it!"_ She shouted in her head.

It was final. The one way to truly complete any date would be to finish it with a kiss. A kiss would finalize any form of date, no mater how bad it went. It would almost guarantee a secondary date on any normal basis. It's the one sure fired way to end a date, even if it was the last one.

Just picturing it, a single kiss between the two of them. It would announce Ikusaba's love for Naegi to the whole world! The simple act of kissing her would be the one, necessary component to finalize her love. Just thinking about it made her so-

*_CRAAASSSHHH!*_

"OWWW!" Ikusaba yelped as she suddenly found herself pinned to the ground.

"Huh?" Naegi opened her eyes in confusion.

She was expecting to be given a gift, so she prepared herself to keep her eyes shut. But after hearing the strange sound of something colliding into another thing, she couldn't help but to open her eyes. Her first thought was that Ikusaba might have pricked her finger or cut herself somehow while getting her gift.

But what she saw completely dumbfounded her.

Lying several yards away from her, she was greeted by the sight of Kirigiri collapsed on top of Ikusaba herself. From the way she was angled, Naegi could see her skirt pulled upwards and her underwear sticking out. Thank goodness there weren't any boys around here to see the exact same scene.

…Right?

As for the girls themselves, Ikusaba groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. She was never expecting anyone to attack her up here on the fifth floor. The most she could even expect was Monokuma trying to purposely drop in on their date just to irritate Ikusaba. Now, Ikusaba wished it was Monokuma, because the sight she saw instead left her furious!

Right on top of her, pinning her to the ground by her shoulders, was Kirigiri, in the flesh. She was just as infuriated to see Ikusaba herself, but for a different reason. Picture her surprise, that out of all things while on a date with Naegi, that she would see Ikusaba. That pissed her off alone. She didn't even care about the strange choice of clothes they decided to wear.

What DID piss her off to the point where she would've enjoyed killing her, was the sight of her trying to kiss Naegi. She didn't need to confirm it with herself before hand to know what was going on. She was getting close, too close, to Naegi of all people. Not just Naegi, but HER Naegi, of all people! She would not allow her to get close, even if she wasn't trying to kiss her.

All this left her pinning herself on top of Ikusaba, glaring angrily at the same infuriated girl.

"_You FUCKING bitch! I had her!_" Ikusaba gritted her teeth, mumbling quietly.

"_Kiss my ass, bitch!"_ Kirigiri snorted back. "_You had her for five minutes after the pool incident, which your PARTNER caused! Like FUCK I would let you get her twice!"_

_"CPR DOESN'T COUNT!"_

"Kirigiri?!" Naegi gasped in confusion and surprise. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she stood up.

*_swwwip_*

That was the simple sound of a sash coming undone. Looking down as she stood up, a red blush filled Naegi's face. What she didn't anticipate was the knot from her Obi getting caught on the small, thick, branch that was behind her. Not only was the branch sturdy enough to stick to the tree while pulling off the Obi, but apparently, it somehow managed to slip off the rest of Naegi's kimono as well.

And Ikusaba didn't bother telling her to change back into her undergarment after tying the kimono back on, thus leaving Naegi in the nude in front of both girls.

"Eek!" Naegi shrieked to herself.

The sound of Naegi screaming was enough to catch the other two girls' attention, worried that something may have happened to her. What they found instead was something that resulted in a glimpse of paradise.

*_**sssnnnnnnnnnttttttttttttt**__*_

_*__**sssnnnnnnnnnttttttttttttt**__*_

*_Thud*_

_*Thud*_

"Huh?" Naegi lifted her head up again as she heard the sound of something collapsing. Naegi's eyes could only widen in fear as she looked back. "Ahh! Kirigiri! Ikusaba!" Naegi panicked, quickly pulling the kimono off the tree and dressing herself once more. Covering herself the best she could, she quickly ran over to her two best of friends.

"Are you two okay?!" Naegi asked worriedly. She kneeled over to see the girls who were currently passed out. "Come on! Wake up! Wake up!" She pleaded worriedly. She figured it must have happened when they both crashed into the ground earlier. She still didn't know why Kirigiri must have tackled Ikusaba, but all she cared about at the time was their current state.

There, both girls lied across the ground. Whether from the shock of hitting their head against the ground, or the loss of blood they were currently losing from their noses, both girls were officially passed out with swirls in their eyes. Neither of them would have preferred passing out right in front of Naegi, but neither of them were prepared for it.

The mere sight of Naegi standing nude before the two of them… It was heaven.

And now they were out cold.

…

…

…

_***30 Minutes Later in the Nurse's Office…***_

"So would you remind me again why you tackled Ikusaba?" Naegi asked.

All three girls were back in the Nurse's Office about half an hour later. Naegi and Ikusaba took the liberty of changing back into their own clothes before they left the Dojo. During said time, neither, Ikusaba's, nor Kirigiri's, noses would stop bleeding. It was hard to do for either of them- even if Naegi was back in her old clothing, just picturing her dressing and redressing from nude to clothed was enough to keep their noses running all the way down to the Office.

Fortunately, the bleeding had come to a complete stop by the time they reached the second floor, but Naegi wanted them both to check into the office just to be on the safe side. Of course she wouldn't understand why they truly had nosebleeds to begin with. She didn't know about either ones' feelings for her.

The only thing both girls could do was sit on the bed next to each other with bloody tissues up their noses. Obviously, neither could stand to look at each other, yet they agreed on their usual temporary truce in front of Naegi.

"I… I told you Naegi…" Kirigiri said sniffling. "I thought she was about to attack you with a weapon, s-so I tried to stop her."

"A-And I told you…I-It was just a can of soda I was trying to give her." Ikusaba added. "It was just a mistake."

"Uh huh…" Naegi mumbled. Part of her was unsure of the story, but at the same time, she couldn't think of any other alternatives. "Speaking of which, how did you get up here to begin with?" Naegi wondered.

"S-Simple." Kirigiri claimed. "I heard some noise up stairs, saw that the gate to the stairs were gone, and quickly ran up…" She explained.

"M-Maybe we should've told her about the tickets after all." Ikusaba commented. It took all her strength to face her innocently and without hate. "S-Sorry." Apologizing alone made her stomach boil.

"Yeah, same here." Naegi agreed. "We should have told you before we left." Kirigiri smiled towards Naegi, being the easier of the two to smile for.

"I-It's alright." Kirigiri replied. "I-I'm sorry for not trusting her anyway…and tackling her."

"Hmhmhm." Naegi chuckled with a bright smile. "So we're all good here then, right?"

Fate is never good around here.

***Diiing dooong…***

***Diiiing doooong…* **

All three of them could only groan in unison as they turned to the only monitor within the room.

_**"Ah hem, can I have everyone's attention, please?"**_ Monokuma requested as he appeared over the monitor. _**"Everyone, please report to the gym area immediately for an emergency meeting! That is all.**_"

"And now the day is ruined…" Ikusaba muttered rolling her eyes. Naegi tried to give her a sympathetic smile.

"Hey, least it can't get any worse right?" She suggested. "I mean, seriously, what sort of motive is he going to give us this time…?"

A/N: Soooooo how was it ya guys ^^? I hope the date was to everyone's liking. I'm to exactly sure how to best set up a date-themed scenario, especially when it comes to being trapped in a school like this, but I still hope it worked to everyone's liking ^^

And I apologize for the delay. To think, that I actually spent OVER A DAY (BLASPHEMY!) to post this thing! It was mainly the result of me trying to get a start on the other fanfic awhile ago earlier yesterday, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it X/ However, as such, it also took out a few hours of my work time, so I lost time working on this yesterday alone.

Sorryz X/ I mean really, SORRYZ! I can't believe or forgive myself X*! I mean really, whose ever heard of a guy who fails to update their fanfic on a daily basis?! IT'S UNFORGIVABLE X*(!


	19. Kirigiri's Naegi Time

A/N: *Insert Long boring, meaningless message which no one reads here*

In addition to the long and meaningless messages no one ever reads, I'd like to note out how some of you might have noticed how this FFs turned a bit into the fluff area. Well, reason for it, if you have read this from where I began to where it is now, you might have noticed how this series started out rather...very dark.

So, to compensate it and all, I'm trying to balance it out a bit by adding some lighter elements for the couple chapters here. Don't worry, it wont be fluff constantly, just like how it wont be all dark constantly. Whichever way it plays out, it'll all be dependent on what the fans wish, and how dark some elements are and light other parts are.

In short, I'm just trying to balance it out ^^

...

…

...

_It was a new experience for Makoto Naegi. As always, the lunchrooms were filled with students, some with interesting and unique backgrounds, others… Well, actually, there was no "other" to this case. _

_All these students, all these students with ACTUAL talents, had an actual background of differing interests. Some of their talents made them stars, while others rolled in the money their actual talents brought them. All of them had interesting and unique talents they could be interested in. _

_But Naegi? Her talent? It simply made her an outcast._

_With her talent, it was far less than ordinary or interesting. Luck was just that- luck. It had no specialty that made it unique to certain individuals, it was not something that could be gained or lost. It was just luck. A thing that nearly anyone could have, and at the same time, something no one could have._

_And with Naegi, that was a truth. She had no luck when it came to friends, she had no luck when it came to using her talents to better herself. It was just nothing. Just like she felt. _

_On the brighter side of things, there was at least one person she could trust as her friend. There was a girl named Kirigiri she would come across from time to time. During her interactions with her, she managed to have a nice, personal chat with an actual student within the school._

_Kirigiri never judged her for her appearance, her lack of an actual talent, nothing. She actually seemed to enjoy socializing with Naegi, and never asked for anything in return. Well, there was one time she asked to borrow a pencil, but that was weeks ago, and she already gave it back and continued to chat with her. _

_Sadly, she was never at lunch with her. She never had anything against Naegi, in fact, she would've loved to hang out with her if given the chance. Unfortunately, her schedule never worked out in time with Naegi's lunch period. Hence forth, she would never be able to eat with Naegi, forcing Naegi to eat alone._

_Only until a little while ago, however. _

_As much as she struggled, as much as she hated the struggling, her work proved meaningless. But if her luck was an actual factor, if it ever proved useful after recent events saved her. _

_Now, she was eating in the lunchroom, as always. What made it different this time, was the friends surrounding her. She would always have lunch on her own, sometimes hoping others would sit with her, other times people just being forced to sit with her if there were no empty spots left. _

_But this time around, she wasn't alone. Now, she had friends, actual friends around her. Even if the group itself was small, it was plentiful to her. Asahina, the Super High School Level Swimmer, Owada, the Super High School Level Biker Gang Leader, and Ikusaba, the Super High School Level Mercenary. _

_They were her valued friends as of this moment. And they always would be._

_"Thanks for eating with me again, guys." Naegi said with a small smile. _

_"Egh, errgeh ih." Owada mumbled with food in his mouth. He noticed how inaudible his voice was for the moment, so he quickly swallowed the pizza he was working on before repeating. "I mean, nah forget it, chick. Sucks like hell when ya gotta eat without company." _

_"Just like on the battlefield, you've got to enjoy the company with your companions." Ikusaba added, using a knife with her pizza. Naegi chuckled quietly at this. _

_"Heh…Well this would be the first meal I've had with people since I came here." She commented while eating her pizza. "At least one where people actually wanted to sit with me."_

_*NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM!*_

_It was almost impossible to ignore the sound of the Mermaid-like swimmer scarfing down her food. Unlike the rest of the group, she apparently had the idea of cutting her pizzas into circles, then setting it between two halves of a bagel to enjoy it donut-style. If the noises coming from her were any indication as to how much she was enjoying it, she was currently ecstatic. _

_"I LOOOOOOOOVE pizza day!" Asahina yelled excitedly. There were drops of sweat rolling down the back of the groups heads. _

_"Uhhhh Asahina?" Owada sole up. "Is there anything you won't try to turn into a donut-based food?"_

_"What are you, nuts?!" Asahina was in shock. "There's no better way to enjoy a food without having a donut-based covering!"_

_"Hey, Asahina!" Another school girl suddenly greeted her. She was traveling with another friend who had an empty expression on their face. _

_"Hey Miharu! You guys wanna join us?" Asahina offered happily. _

_Before Miharu could reply to the offer, the girl next to her suddenly whispered into her ear. The two of them were eyeing Naegi strangely, Miharu looking surprised after speaking after several seconds. Backing away from Mahiru, the other girl waited for Mahiru's reply. _

_Naegi frowned as she knew what was coming. _

_"On second thought, maybe some other time…" Mahiru muttered as the two girls walked away. Asahina was rather surprised by the response but continued to wave._

_"O-Ok. Cya later Mahiru, Peko!" She watched as they left until they found another table to sit at. "Huh, that's strange. They usually always sit with me." _

_"Huff, sorry." Naegi sighed, frowning and lowering her head. "It's my fault, I know." _

_"Hey, you can't blame them, ya know?" Owada said with a sympathetic smile. _

_"I know, I know…" Naegi lowered her head even more at this._

_*stomp*_

_Owada's eyes lit up as he felt a pounding pressure on the tip of his foot. _

_"YEOWCH!" He screamed, jumping his leg up, inadvertently causing his knee to bang onto the table. "Ow!" He yelped again. He had to rub it as quickly as he could to dull the pain. He glanced over to Ikusaba, realizing only a soldier to crush his foot so painfully. _

_"You don't have to be rude about it!" She said sternly._

_"I didn't mean like that!" Owada yelled back. "I-I just mean because, you know… the whole thing with Nagito." _

"_Nagito?" Naegi asked._

_"Yeah, the other High School Good Luck." Owada nodded. "You ever met the guy?" _

_"I've… met him once or twice." Naegi scratched her cheek with a small smile. She didn't need a full description to understand what he was getting at._

_"It's nothing personal to that guy, but he literally acts weird and everything." Ikusaba stated. "He always talks down on himself and acts like we're always the superior ones, and he's some lowly insect or whatever." _

_"I don't want to sound mean about it, but she's right." Asahina added. At least she seemed regretful to say so. "Every time I try talking to him, he starts getting all creepy and acts like we're gods to him or something." _

_"Well he can't be that bad, right?" Naegi shrugged. "I mean, in my opinion, everyone has to has a background that makes people what they have today, right? Maybe he has a background or history?"_

_"Well if he does, I can't tell." Owada said leaning back in his chair. "No one can get a word in edge wise with him, so we can't tell what his story is."_

_"So what does that have to do with me?" Naegi wondered. "I mean, I'm not related to him or anything." _

_"Heh heh…" Ikusaba chuckled to herself. "Hey Naegi, did you know if you rearranged your name, it could spell Nagito's name too?" She pointed out._

_"It does?" Naegi stared up into thought for a moment. She used her finger to mentally arrange the imaginary letters in front of her. As much as she couldn't believe it, Ikusaba was right. Makoto Naegi could be used to spell Nagito Komeda. _

_"And to answer the last question, it has to do with your title, not you personally." Owada interrupted again. "Both of you have the title Super High School Level Good Luck, remember?" _

_"And regrettably, thanks to Nagito, I think he gave everyone with the title a bad name." Asahina continued. "Because of the way he acts and all, everyone probably thinks anyone with the title Super High School Level Good Luck will be just like him." _

_Naegi moaned as she frowned. "Well that's nice to know. People will think I'm like him without even getting to know me." _

_"Hey, cheer up!" Asahina said with a warm smile. "It's just because people don't know you. Once they see you're a nice person, you'll be fine."_

_"Yeah, it'll be great!" Owada said enthusiastically. "Just give it some time, you'll make tons of friends." Naegi just sighed._

_"I hope so…"_

...

...

...

The school hallways were quiet as always. It never really was busy, even when there were fifteen students when this all started. Walking side by side with Ikusaba and Kirigiri, Naegi couldn't help but feel how empty the halls really were. It practically felt like a haunted house with how empty it was.

When it all started, there were fifteen of them. The baseball pro Leon, the Star Idol Maizono, the computer programming expert Fujisaki, the quick-to-voice Hagakure, the strict, yet friendly, Ishimaru, the Bookworm Fukawa with her Psychotic personality Genocider, and the expert child prodigy Togami. Those were the people who used to help fill this school with a sense of decency.

These were the people Naegi would never see again. She came to terms with their deaths more and more easily as time wore on, but it was never a joyous feeling. The fact she would never see those people again filled her with a sense of sorrow, the likes of which she could never describe. It wasn't that she knew them all to their fullest, it was actually the fact she would never get the chance to learn about their backstories that really egged her on.

So many lives she would never get a chance to learn about. A chance to learn about everyone's history and backstory that lead them up to this place. Sure, some of them she could go without knowing, like what made Genocider the psychopath she was today. But other ones, like Fujisaki's, and the friends she's come to know and love, those she would regret never learning about.

While it at first only brought her pain, it now filled her with a sense of commitment. From this point forward, she would carry on their lives through herself, and assured herself that she would get through all this, no matter what would happen. She would ensure that she told everyone's families, the families who would never see their children again, what really happened around here.

She had to do it for them.

"Naegi?" Kirigiri whispered as she walked to the left of her.

"What's up Kirigiri?" Naegi replied curiously.

"I was just...umm..." Kirigiri turned away with a slight blush. It was easier to look to her side this time, because Ikusaba took the liberty of walking on Naegi's right from now on. That way it would keep Kirigiri from "accidentally" bumping her out of the way and getting in between them. "I was just...wondering...W-What were you two doing up there? I-In the dojo, on the Fifth Floor, I mean." She asked. It was soothing to see Naegi give her a calming smile

"Oh, that? It was nothing, don't worry. Ikusaba and I were investigating one of the rooms early to see if we could learn anything that could help us." Naegi lowered her head. "Sadly we couldn't find anything, so we just had dinner up there." Kirigiri actually looked surprised at her reponse.

"Y-You mean you were just working up there?" She wanted to clarify and make absolutely sure there were no unresolved issues.

"Yup. Ikusaba made sure to bring a basket with us because we would've been forced to wait upstairs for a few hours." Naegi explained.

Kirigiri felt an overwhelming sense of relief at this. "Oh thank good-!" She quickly stopped herself from continuing. Naegi still gave her a strange look, but she was just fortunate to stop when she did. Otherwise, she could have possibly revealed her jealousy. "I-I mean...g-good that y-you...w-wouldn't go hungry, I mean!" She quickly said with an innocent smile.

"You were worried we'd go hungry?" Naegi found the statement strange.

"Y-Yeah!" Kirigiri nodded scratching her cheek. "I-I mean, in case you two were stuck up there all night, you might have been locked outside the lunchroom, you know? Trust me, it's hard as hell trying to sleep with an empty stomach." She explained.

"Oh...Hehehe." Naegi chuckled at this. "Yeah, I've experienced a night or two where I either ate too early or not enough for dinner. It sucks." Naegi agreed.

Kirigiri sighed mentally. She was glad acting was on her forte of skills. Then again, figuring that Ikusaba wouldn't tell her it was a date to begin with, Naegi didn't really have many other options to choose from. The question that came to her soon after though was whether Naegi would have agreed, even if Ikusaba DID tell her it was a date. She prayed to herself that she wouldn't.

At the same time, Ikusaba could only roll her eyes at their conversation. It wasn't Naegi's talking that irritated her. She could listen to Naegi talk again and again without her ever being annoyed by it. It was the other person talking, the person who she rather not even name for that matter, Kirigiri.

She still pissed Ikusaba off, and for over a million reasons as of half an hour ago. The most prominent, and the one that consisted of at least 999,999 of the reasons, was Kirigiri INTERRUPTING HER ONE TRUE MOMENT OF HAPPINESS! Otherwise known as her attempt at giving Naegi her first kiss, even if Naegi wasn't aware of it.

She had one, grand, chance to have Naegi all to herself, and to give her her first kiss ever. And right When Ikusaba was about to reach her, Kirigiri just HAD to tackle her out of the way and pin Ikusaba away from her. She has never hated Kirigiri more than that one moment alone. She swore to herself, no matter what, she would NEVER forgive her!

"So Naegi, maybe..." Kirigiri couldn't look at her directly due to the blush she had. "S-Since you guys had dinner together, m-maybe...Would you wanna have breakfast together tomorrow then?" She asked. "I-I mean since you got to chat with Ikusaba, I-I figured, you know, m-maybe we could catch up with one another?"

"Huh...Hey yeah, that's a great idea!" Naegi exclaimed. Kirigiri couldn't help but get a bit excited at this.

"R-Really?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah!" Naegi looked up into thought. "In fact, maybe I should eat with everyone by themselves during our meals. It'll give me a great time to catch up with just about everyone."

"Oh...right." Kirigiri moaned on the inside.

Of course, Naegi would just think it was a chance to socialize with everyone. She wouldn't expect the deeper meaning behind Kirigiri's suggestion, not that she would want her to anyway. When the time came, she would confess her love, just like Ikusaba had tried to do earlier. The only difference is that her love would be pure, and she wouldn't betray Naegi like she expected Ikusaba to.

While these things were on her thought, she couldn't help but actually think about Ikuasba's recent behavior. She had an understanding that Ikuasba cared for Naegi, perhaps as much as she did herself. The problem was, would Ikusaba betray that love to follow Monokuma's and the Mastermind's orders or not?

Ikusaba was a traitor, that much she understood, and she would never trust her, even if her own life depended on it. But what even she couldn't understand was trying to figure out how far Ikusaba's love went. Did it stop one Monokuma would order her to betray Naegi? Or maybe she would prove her love moreover than Monokuma's trust, and actually help Naegi in the end.

If it was the latter, Kirigiri found herself wondering if she could use that to her advantage. Right now, Monokuma had a hold on her. As long as Ikusaba was around, she was practically a dog on Monokuma's leash. But if she could exploit Ikusaba's love for Naegi, just like Monokuma was doing to her, then maybe she could find a way they could all get out of this alive. She could Deal with Ikusaba afterwards then.

"So do you wanna chat first then?" Naegi asked Kirigiri curiously. "I mean, since you suggested it, it's only right to offer the choice to you first."

Kirigiri had to stop herself from blurting out the answer too quickly. She needed to keep calm so she didn't seem to suspicious or strange. "I-If it's alright, t-then sure!"

"Great!" Naegi was excited. Kirigiri was even more excited than her as Ikusaba shot her an irritated look. That quickly changed to one of mischievousness as she grew a sly grin.

"Hey Naegi," Ikusaba spoke up to grab her attention, "would you mind if I had breakfast with you two? Then all three of us could chat together." Ikusaba proposed.

"Hey yeah, that's a great idea!" Naegi was enthusiastic about the idea. During the brief moment she looked ahead of herself, Kirigiri's face boiled with rage as Ikusaba stuck her tongue out victoriously. "That way the three of us could get to know each other!" She smiled to Kirigiri curiously. "Is that alright with you, Kirigiri?" Naegi asked.

"Of course it is, Naegi."

If Naegi was a little less excited about the idea, she would've heard the groan-like tone in Kirigiri's voice as she said this. It was unbearable for her to say this with a straight face while Ikusaba just grinned at her. She would do anything, even die at this moment, before she allowed Ikusaba to get the last laugh on her!

"H-Hey Naegi, I-I was wondering if you could help me with something after." Kirigiri proposed.

"Like what?"

"W-Well...I-I was wondering if after, y-you could help me practice for..." Kirigiri shifted her eyes back and forth trying to think. She needed to think of something specific that only the two of them could do, and she wanted it to be something convincing and that Naegi would enjoy. "...sleepovers?" Kirigiri slapped herself mentally.

"Practice sleepovers?" This was the strangest thing she heard someone wanted to practice. Then again, it's the first time anyone asked her to help practice for anything in awhile.

"Y-Yeah..." Kirigiri hated herself for putting on this charade, but now there was no going back. "I-I mean, Monokuma ruined our last sleepover, r-right? So I never got a chance to fully experience one. And it was my first one to experience, so-"

"It was your first sleepover ever?!" Naegi stammered. She couldn't believe that Kirigiri had never been to a single sleepover before.

"I-Is that a problem?" Kirigiri wondered if some part of this was actually working. Too bad for her, she didn't actually understand why it was.

"Of course it is!" Naegi nearly yelled. "I mean even with boys, everyone has at least one sleepover or two when they're kids!"

Kirigiri believed she was finally understanding the real problem here. It wasn't so much that she's never been to a sleepover before. She realized the real issue Naegi must be having was the worry that Kirigiri might not have had any true friends. From her viewpoint, she guessed Naegi must think that a sleepover between people must mean that they're real friends.

She was partly right actually. Naegi's main worry was that she thought Kirigiri lived most of her life without any true friends. She thought Kirigiri was one of the nicest people around here, so for her to go most of her life without a sleepover was unthinkable.

"We should have another sleepover right away!" Naegi decided.

"J-Just the two of us?" Kirigiri hoped.

"Sure!" I mean-" Anything else Naegi was saying after was unheard of to both, Kirigiri and Ikusaba.

Now, Kirigiri was winning a war. She finally convinced Naegi to have a night with herself, and without Ikusaba of all people! If you could see people's emotions, you would see the storm cloud of rage and sadness pouring over Ikusaba's head, while seeing the victory pose Kirigiri was giving off. And, for the first time since this mutual killing game began, Kirigiri would have a night to herself with Naegi.

As long as this _war_ went on, Kirigiri and Ikusaba would always be neck and neck with each other. And there wasn't any sign that it was going to end anytime soon...

...

...

...

"Upupupu!" Monokuma chuckled in his usual sly manner. "My oh my, would you look at that. Our usual meetings are starting to feel so small these days." He commented.

There was nothing but annoyed expressions all around. Why wouldn't they be? To have some bear go around and say THAT of all things, it was indefinitely meant to rouse everyone's anger and annoyance. When this all started, they were a big, beautiful, bunch of children who consisted of fifteen members. Now, ever since meeting this bear almost a month ago, their group has been cut down to nearly half that size since their days begun.

They all hated Monokuma, that was understandable. What probably wouldn't be so understandable was the fact he never directly killed anyone, except, at least to what they believed, for Junko Enoshima. Surprisingly enough, it's been nothing but the students who've been killing one another. Even if they argued that the motives were unfair, which they were, the students were the only ones who've killed anyone so far.

This is why no one was looking forward to the current meeting. Whenever it came to a meeting within the gym room, it always lead to a motive for the next murder. They didn't care if they assured themselves that there wouldn't be another murder. Simply going through this time and again only caused more fear and worry.

"You're the reason everyone's gone you creep!" Naegi yelled angrily.

"Naegi's right!" Asahina followed. "Ever since you started all this, people have been dying because of you!"

"Oohhh, owwwww, the pain." Monokuma joked covering his lips. "Why must you hurt me with such cruel, painful, words?!"

"Just tell us what you want." Kirigiri ordered firmly.

"Oh come now, can't I ever just bring us all together just to have a nice, friendly chat?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Nobody could even bother thinking of such an obvious question.

"Well, you can't blame a bear for trying, right?" He asked with a shrug. "Anyway, for those of you who can't BEAR the wait, allow me to get to the point! Tomorrow, you'll all be introduced to my wonderful, new, next motive!" He announced.

There were confusions all around. Usually when it came to the meetings like this, he would always jump everyone straight into the meeting, not announce it the day before hand. This was unlike him in any sort of way.

"Why are you telling us this now?" Celes asked curiously. "I think warning us ahead of time would more likely prepare us mentally and physically for what you have to offer."

"What are you really up to?" Ikusaba asked.

"What? I'm shocked here." He frowned lowering his head. "Here I am trying to be a nice bear, give you guys a warning ahead of time, Oogami's a traitor, and you guys just go and make these baseless accusations about me? Oh, where did I go wrong in raising you!"

"...?" Naegi repeated what Monokuma said in her head again. "Wait, what was that last one?"

"Oh, don't go blaming yourself, Naegi." Monokuma insisted. "Clearly, I went wrong somewhere raising you all as my children..." He sighed.

"What did you say about Oogami?" Asahina yelled.

"Hmm? Oooooh, did I just let it slip that Oogami's been WORKING FOR ME this whole time?" Monokuma asked in a sarcastic tone. "Whoopsidasies! How silly of me!"

"Ghhhhh!" Oogami gritted her teeth as she squeezed her fists in anger. She knew this was coming, but nobody else did.

"The fuck you say?!" Owada yelled angrily. "What do you mean she's a traitor?!"

"Get the stuffing out of your ears and listen good then!" Monokuma yelled back. "Basically, your pal Oogami's been working for me ever since this whole school trip has started."

"M-Master Sakura Oogami, is this true?" Yamada asked nervously. "A-Are you really working for the puppet-"

"Are you out of your mind? Of course Sakura isn't working for the puppet master!" Asahina insisted. "Just tell 'em Sakura! Tell 'em you aren't working for them!" She waited for a few brief seconds, hoping for a response. When nothing was given, she looked back to her friend worriedly. "S-Sakura...?"

Oogami couldn't even look her in the face. All she could do was cross her arms as she turned away.

"Asahina..." Oogami lowered her head. "Forgive me, but I can not."

"What?" Asahina became speechless relatively fast.

"What he says... Is the truth." Oogami admitted.

"Oh wow, really?" Monokuma teased, pretending as if he didn't know himself. "What a shocker! I totally didn't see that coming!"

"Just shut up!" Naegi yelled. "So what if she's a traitor? She hasn't done anything to us!"

"Naegi.." Oogami muttered. She appreciated the comment, but she was unsure how the rest of the group would take it.

"The chick's got a point." Owada added. "I mean, how exactly has she been working for you?"

"Well, if you must know, Mr. Stickler," Monokuma began, "she's been keeping tabs on all of you and reporting them in."

"Tabs?" Yamada rubbed his chin in confusion.

"You know, keeping info on all of ya, tell me what you're planning, and then reporting them back in. I mean, obviously, I can't monitor all of you at once, riiiiight? So who do you suppose has been helping me with this?"

"Sakura...is it true?" Asahina asked. She refused to believe that her best friend, one she's known for awhile now, would suddenly turn out to be a traitor like this.

As the scene played out, Ikusaba couldn't help but ponder how things would turn out if she was exposed. What if her partner suddenly went crazy and decided to tell them about her involvement as well? Would anyone forgive her? Would Naegi be able to forgive her? Would she even be able to forgive herself if anyone found out?!

"I don't think it matters anymore if she is." Celes said aloud. All eyes focused on her. "Think about it; why would Monokuma suddenly reveal her as the traitor?"

"I agree with Celes' reasoning." Kirigiri said. "It wouldn't make much sense to reveal the mole to us out in broad light like this."

Naegi couldn't help but smile. Despite the revelation that's been made, no one seemed to care. Around here, everyone was a friend, and no one wanted to allow another murder. Being fed up with the constant murdering and executions around here, everyone was practically on the same wavelength. They didn't want a murder just as much as the next classmate.

"Bawwwww..." Monokuma groaned as he lowered his head. "This is exactly why I wished Togami or that crazy psycho girl was still around. If they were here, they'd definitely be at Oogami's throat."

"The funny thing is, you revealing this is pointless." Kirigiri commented. "Owada is probably the second strongest here, or perhaps Ikusaba is. Either way, Owada would never hurt a lady, and Ikusaba would use weaponry. It would be too obvious."

"Not that I find your reasoning wrong, but she does have a point." Ikusaba continued. "With the two of us unable to do anything, there's no way Oogami will end up murdered."

"Yeah!" Asahina smiled as she cheered a bit. "All of us are officially friends here! We aren't going to allow another murder!"

Looking around, Asahina's words spoke truth. Not one person Monokuma could see looked capable of killing Oogami. Perhaps he went a little too far with the last murder, given how he practically forced Hagakure into the last murder, but he was still surprised. As Asahina and the others said, they were all united this time around. Not a single murder would occur while they were all connected.

"Huff, you guys take all the fun out of things, you know that?" Monokuma sighed. His sad demeanor quickly turned into a face of excitement and curiosity, however, giving everyone an uneasy feeling. "Which is why, I decided to make a new rule for the next murder!"

"A rule?" Naegi asked. All the murders have had a murder provided by Monokuma. For him to provide a rule this time around, it was definitely most curious.

"Indeed! For the next, exciting murder, I making an official rule! Unless Oogami is defending herself, no ones allowed to murder anyone else except for Oogami!" He ruled.

There was a brief of surprise among everyone, but no one really cared. So what if Oogami was the only one people were allowed to murder? It didn't mean they would be more tempted to do it. As a matter of fact, they were even less likely to pull off a murder if they were only allowed to target Oogami. Seriously, who would be tempted to take someone on whose muscles are bigger than her own head?

"You're actually making us less likely to commit a murder, you know that?" Celes noted.

"Say what you will!" Monokuma shook his paw uncaringly. "But be warned, when you see the delightful motive I have installed for you, upupupu..." Monokuma covered his mouth as he grew one of his infamous grins. "I'll bet ten-thousand yen that nearly everyone will be going after Oogami!" And naturally, with his final words spoken, he jumped back into the floorboards from once he came.

Everyone was silent for awhile. They didn't know what to make of the situation. They all knew what Monokuma said must have been true. Oogami had to be working for the puppet master if Monokuma the gall to reveal it. Being a backstabber wasn't too surprising coming from him.

The only thing that did come to everyone's mind was, what now? Obviously, some of those amongst themselves had no intention of trying to murder Oogami. The problem was, what were the others thinking? They could vouch for themselves, but despite everyone being weaker than her, someone could easily try and trick Oogami. Whether or not they would be successful would be a different story, but it still left everyone with the option of actually doing it.

And what exactly was Monokuma's next idea? The first motive involved their families. The second one involved using everyone's deep, dark, secret past against them. And the third most recent one involved lies and truths. What would come about for this next one?

"So...What now?" Asahina finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"Well...first thing's first, I guess." Owada was just as unsure, scratching the back of his head. "Does anyone have a problem with this?"

"Ehhh...does a concern I have count?" Yamada wondered.

"What's wrong?"

"I guess if I had to say...Master Sakura Oogami, are you still working for the Mastermind?" He asked. Oogami shook her head at this, to some of their relief.

"Not anymore." Oogami answered. "After witnessing all the pain up to this point, I've broken up all ties I've had with the puppet master."

"B-But Sakura...Why were you working with him to begin with?" Asahina had to know. She knew her friend was kind-hearted, even if she was working for the wrong guy. She absolutely refused to believe she was working for him without a good reason.

"...My dojo." Oogami lowered her head.

"Your Dojo?" This was the first time Naegi heard of her dojo. She did know about it from what the others told her, she's just never had time to learn about it herself.

"Monokuma took my Dojo hostage. I've been forced to do his bidding in order to ensure it's safety." Oogami explained.

Kirigiri could sympathize with this. Since several days ago, she herself has practically become a tool for Monokuma to use as he saw fit. Even if the number of lives were significantly less than the ones Monokuma were using against her, it didn't lessen how valuable the hostage was.

She couldn't help but find it a little sad, though. Not the fact they were both being manipulated and forced to work with him, but how pitiful Kirigiri found herself at that moment. Here, Oogami was being blackmailed by multiple lives, while Kirigiri was only suffering due to one. She truly envied Oogami's strength at that moment.

"Was your original goal to just keep tabs on us?" Celes asked twirling her hair. "I'd find a job like that to be rather miniscule in terms of importance."

"It wasn't." Oogami admitted, feeling disgraceful. "My original goal was to start the mutual killing game. Once I took someone's life, Monokuma assured me that he would let my Dojo go. But neither of us expected Maizono to what she did."

Naegi lowered her head at the mention. She didn't need a reminder of what happened during that time. Part of it made her wonder who Oogami would have killed if things had gone according to plan.

"Is everyone okay, then?" Asahina asked worriedly. "D-Does anyone have any issues?"

"I for sure don't!" Naegi shook her head firmly "I don't care if she was a traitor or still is a traitor. I'm tired of all the murders going on around here!"

"I agree with Naegi!" Ikusaba said proudly. "Like any war in the world, we're losing too many of our own comrades. We need to stick together around here!"

"I'm good on my side." Kirigiri claimed. And it wasn't just to keep herself from being shown off by Ikusaba...entirely. "I prefer solving the crimes, not causing them."

"What do you expect me to say?" Owada shrugged. "I got my man's honor, I'd sooner kill myself before I killed her."

"Ehhh... I'm not even in a position to argue with anything." Yamada sighed.

"And I'm Sakura's friend! So I'm off the list!" Asahina cheered happily.

She was truly excited. Out of all of this, she's never been proud to call the surrounding people her friends. Not just her friends, but Oogami's friends as well! Everyone was officially tired of all the killing and murders around this place. And they were going to fight back against the puppet master until the very end of all things.

"So, we all good?" Asahina asked brightly.

"I think you have one pressing matter to attend to..." Kirigiri commented, gesturing to Celes. All eyes focused on her, realizing she's the only one who's been silent this entire time.

"Celes?" Asahina called out. The silence she was giving off was making them uneasy.

"...Don't get me wrong, I'm more than thrilled at the idea that Oogami is fighting with us...now." Celes stated. "But as a master of lies, one issue still bothers me."

"W-What's that?" Asahina felt as if she already knew the answer. She wanted to be wrong.

"How do we know Oogami is truly severing her ties with the puppet master?" Celes asked everyone. Nobody liked where this was going.

"Wh-What are you saying?"

"I'm just speaking my mind, but can we really be sure Oogami is on our side once again?" Celes was smiling as she said this. "What if this was all an act? It would have been quite a performance, wouldn't it?"

"Are you saying you still don't trust Sakura?" Asahina's cheeks puffed out a bit.

"All I'm saying is that I'm a bit wary of her." Celes clarified. "If it makes you feel any better, feel free to use discretion when within my presence. Perhaps telling you this is my own way of showing trust."

"The chick has a point," Owada sided, "as long as she's giving you the heads up, there's not much to worry about."

"Y-Yeah but..." Asahina tried to find some means to argue.

"It's alright, Asahina." Oogami said with a nod. "I appreciate the sentiment of warning me, Celes."

"Oh fine." Asahina groaned.

"I also want to thank you all for being understanding." Oogami added. "I promise, I will answer any questions you have to the best of my ability."

"In that case, I have only one important question." Yamada stated. "Who is the puppet master."

All eyes turned to Oogami at this. Yamada had the right idea to ask that. With Oogami working with the headmaster, there was very little doubt that she wouldn't know the puppet master's identity. Sadly, there was little response, however, as all Oogami did was shake her head.

"I am sorry, but that is an ability in which I lack." Oogami frowned. "Through all my interactions with the puppet master, I have only spoken to Monokuma directly."

"My, isn't that surprising." Celes spoke with a tease of hint of sarcasm.

"Grrrrr..." Asahina couldn't help but grumble. She knew Oogami was their friend, and she trusted her more than anybody else. She would continue to fight for Oogami's side, and work to keep the group together.

During this time, Naegi couldn't help but notice Kirigiri's silence. "Something wrong, Kirigiri?" Naegi asked curiously.

Kirigiri continued to rub her chin in thought. There was something off about all of this, aside from the fact Monokuma announced Oogami as the traitor, and not Ikusaba- part of her kind of wished he did. What did get to her though was the issue of a motive.

"Isn't anyone else concerned about all this?"

"Worried about what?" Ikusaba asked.

"The motive this time around." Kirigiri replied. "Think about it; Monokuma said the motive this time around would be presented tomorrow. The other problem is that Monokuma stated that only Oogami was allowed to be the next victim, unless she defended herself."

"Wasn't that just to get back at Oogami? It did make things rather unfair for her, even if she is the strongest." Naegi suggested.

"I have no doubt that's part of the issue." Kirigiri nodded. "But what concerns me is the motive he has planned."

"I see what you mean." Celes understood Kirigiri's viewpoint. "The issue is, what sort of motive could Monokuma create that would make us desperate enough to kill Oogami? Is that correct?" Kirigiri nodded in confirmation.

"That is precisely the problem."

"I-It can't be that bad...right?" Asahina grew slightly worried.

"Nah, I bet it'll be fine." Owada said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. "Remember last time? The only reason a murder happened was because everyone was asleep, and those awake had the choice to. Long as no one chooses to, we should be fine." Kirigiri bit her lip at this.

"That's exactly what concerns me..." She mumbled quietly.

Naegi frowned a little upon seeing Kirigiri's expression. She knew somewhat of Kirigiri's frame of mind. She always saw things through much faster than anyone else in the group, and was capable of picking out the slightest detail in a situation.

So what was concerning her now? She had to have a good reason as to why she looked so worried. Was it because Oogami turned out to be a traitor? Or maybe she was the spy Kirigiri and Ikusaba were talking about! That must be the case, but Naegi would have thought that Kirigiri would've been more excited about finding the spy, even if Oogami was a nice person.

She figured Kirigiri must be feeling stressed from the current situation. Luckily, she knew a way to help cheer her up.

"Hey, don't worry, Kirigiri!" Naegi tried to cheer, patting her shoulder. "Don't forget, we have a sleepover tonight!" She reminded.

Naegi's smile grew brighter as she saw Kirigiri smile in return. The only thing was, she didn't know the true reason behind it. Tonight, Kirigiri would get a night with just Naegi and herself, much like Ikusaba had for nearly every day since she came here. Best of all, there would be no Ikusaba to bother the two of them, so they could just chat with one another the entire time.

The only thing that did bother her, even the slightest bit, about this, was that if neither Naegi or Kirigiri were around, Ikusaba would be left totally unwatched. She doubt she would do anything to harm or threaten any of the other students though, because of Naegi, but it didn't leave her feeling any better all the same. She would have to be careful.

"Y-Yes, you're right." Kirigiri nodded. She enjoyed watching the glare Ikusaba was giving off from behind Naegi. "We should try to be positive about this."

"Yeah!" Naegi turned back towards Ikusaba, missing the sly grin Kirigiri was giving off to her. "You don't mind if I sleep over at Kirigiri's tonight, do you Ikusaba?"

With a crooked, teethed, smile, Ikusaba nodded. "Of course it is, Naegi." She replied. "I hope you two have fun tonight." She said with a bow.

"Alright then, if it's alright with you guys, I'll take charge from here on in then." Owada decided. "It's the least I can do for bro's sake."

"Hmhm, I have no issue with that then." Oogami responded with a proud smile.

"It's fine by me." Celes said with a simple nod.

"Fine then. As first official leader order, everyone be up and ready right on time for the usual morning meeting." Owada ordered. "We all need to make sure we're together and ready for whatever Monokuma has planned."

...

...

...

"Thanks for doing this with me again." Kirigiri said with a smile.

It was the time she'd been waiting for, later that evening, the time when she'd get to spend some alone time with Naegi. True to her word, Kirigiri hasn't been to many sleepovers throughout her life. In fact, adding the last one she had several days ago with Naegi's slumber party, this is the second sleepover Kirigiri's had.

She was somewhat excited about it, aside from the fact Naegi was here too. Growing up, her life has been about nothing but work. Working for the organization which her family runs, she had been trained at a fairly young age, working through most of her life to become an honorable symbol of her family's history.

But that also meant she was alone, or at least without friends, most of the time. While she still had her family, she didn't have the same classy childhood that most people were given in their time. When she thought of it herself, she found herself somewhat comparable to Byakuya Togami in some ways.

What a disturbing thought...

At least here, surrounded by her friends, she could have what some would call a childhood, all the while still being close to Naegi. She didn't care about the big problems at that point. She didn't want to focus on the negative aspects that might confuse and anger her. For now, she was only interested in solving the mysteries of the school with everyone else.

As matter of fact, for that very moment, she was just interested in spending a single night with Naegi. It would finally give them the chance to hang out and chat like she's been waiting for. With all else that's happened, she's always been too preoccupied with other matters to spend some quality time with Naegi.

So, while the circumstances would've been different than she wished, her she was, finally spending time with Naegi. At the moment, the two were sitting together on her bed, wearing only white thin t-shirts and their panties. It was rather close to the Night Time announcement, in fact a few minutes to it, so for now, the only challenge she had to face was figuring out what to talk about.

"No problem, Kirigiri!" Naegi replied happily. "Like I said, everyone should have at least one sleepover in their life." She cricked her neck as she felt a slight ache.

"I-I really appreciate it, b-but," she started blushing slightly while holding her pillow, "I...I really d-don't know much about sleepovers."

"They're not really something you need to learn, trust me." She said with another crick. "They're sort of...something you just do with friends."

"Yeah…friends…" Kirigiri paused for a moment. "So…how was it for you when it came to making friends?" She asked. "I-I don't mean to be rude about it, I j-just…" Kirigiri tried finding a way to speak her mind without sounding rude. Naegi, however, just smiled, knowing what she was trying to say.

"It's ok, I get the idea." Naegi assured. "And I actually did make some friends over the years," she scratched her head while saying, "even if I did have some issues with people questioning my gender." She cricked her neck again.

"How often did people get confused about it? I-I'm not trying to pry or anything, it's just…you know."

"It's alright, it's alright. To be honest, it did actually happen frequently. Some of the time though, it would be easier to get my gender right if I was wearing a skirt or something for the day."

Kirigiri tapped her chin. "You make it sound like you only wore a skirt if it was convenient for you." Naegi gave a small blush as she turned away.

"Y-Yeah well…L-Let's just say I always have a bad experience when it came to skirts…" She muttered.

To her, skirts were a nightmare for her. From breezy gusts of wind to getting snagged on even the simplest twig or bush, they always came to a point where, at one point or another, they would get flipped up and exposed for the world to see. And like all girls, this simple act would reveal a man's most prized scenery, a girl's panties.

"I mean when it came to like middle school and elementary school, it was fine at first." Naegi continued. "B-But after starting Junior High and all… L-Let's just say the boys would keep stalking me, just to wait."

"Wait for what?"

Naegi hesitated to reply. "T-To… They would always just wait for the moment when my skirt would flip up." Kirigiri blushed at this. She did her best to resist, but for a brief moment, she pictured just what it would look like to see Naegi in such a state…

…

_"Eek!" Naegi would shriek as her eyes lit up. _

_Standing over a vent that just turned full blast, watching as the powerful gust of wind would blow her skirt up on all sides. _

_"D-Don't look at me!" She would cry in a shrill voice, trying fruitlessly to push her skirt back down. _

_It would matter not, however, as despite her strength, the wind would continue to fight against her, revealing the cotton panties around Naegi's waist. _

_Just picturing Naegi in that state brought stars to Kirigiri's eyes. She began picturing them, fit and snug, covering various "parts" of Naegi's waist. She began imagining the different possibilities that would be presented in front of her, specifically, the form of her panties._

_Maybe they would come out as white with pink polka dots. _

_Or maybe she'll have the adorable pink panties with white bunnies on them! _

_Or maybe-!_

…

_*_Snap!*

*Snap!*

"Huh?" Kirigiri suddenly blinked as she was brought back into reality. In front of her, she could see Naegi's fingers in a snapping position, the girl herself giving her a curious look.

"Hello, you there?" Naegi asked lowering her hand.

"W-What?" Kirigiri shook her head trying to focus again.

"You okay? You just zoned out all of a sudden." Naegi stated.

Kirigiri could only reply with nothing but a red blush. She couldn't believe she went through a sudden daydream, right in front of Naegi of all people! She's just happy enough that Naegi stopped her before she started fantasizing anymore. Any longer and she thought she would get a nosebleed.

She had to make an official rule to herself: never fantasize about Naegi IN FRONT of Naegi! She wasn't ready to confess her feelings yet, and she needed time to warm up to Naegi first, so she could make sure that Naegi wouldn't reject her. She just needed to wait for the right time though.

"O-Oh! Sorry!" She quickly apologized. "I-I was just t-thinking about the umm…motive for tomorrow." She lied.

"You shouldn't have to worry about it, Kirigiri." Naegi said with a smile. "I mean if all of us work together…" She started rubbing her neck. "I-If we all…mmh….ngh…" She started groaning as she rubbed her neck. Kirigiri tilted her head as she watched this.

"Is something wrong?" She grew slightly concerned seeing her beloved friend in such discomfort.

"Ngh...yeah...M-My neck is just sort of sore..." She moaned. "I might have slept on it weird."

"Hmm...Would you like some help with it?" Naegi stared at her curiously.

"Help?" She repeated. Kirigiri smiled at her own idea.

"Get on your stomach and lie down." She told her as she stepped off the bed.

"Oh...O-Ok." Naegi complied as she sat flatly on the bed.

She stretched her arms forward, awaiting curiously at whatever Kirigiri was going to do next. Much to her surprise, her eyes widened as she felt Kirigiri suddenly crawl on her back, sitting on it with her knees. Her assumption of what Kirigiri was about to do next came true as she felt her pressing against the joins of her back. Naegi's eyes rolled back slightly in delight, feeling all the tension leave her body at the same time.

Kirigiri also felt tension leaving her own body, but through a different source. Any chance she could use to prove herself to Naegi, any opportunity to ease Naegi's pain or suffering, she would be happy to take. As long as she could see her bright and smiling face, she felt content. And she enjoyed her moment as she continued caressing her fingers and palms, all across Naegi's back and her sides.

At the exact same time, Ikusaba grumbly marched her way over to Kirigiri's doorway. Even if she couldn't have Naegi to herself for the night, she would at least keep tabs on what Kiriigiri is trying to do with her. It was both for her own work as well as Ikusaba's curiosity. While most people probably wouldn't be able to hear what goes on in each others rooms, as the boys proved earlier, if you were close enough to the rooms, you could at least hear mumbling, bits, and pieces of it.

She needed to do all that she could to make sure Naegi never fell for that witch's trap! That's where her own benefit came in. The other issue was making sure she didn't tell Naegi anyting that might make Naegi expendable to her sister. If she had to, she would eliminate Kirigiri so she wouldn't tell her anything about Ikusaba. That's only if it was truly necessary.

As much as she wanted to, she couldn't kill Kirigiri off right. She was a great friend to Naegi, and she provided her with comfort whenever Ikusaba herself wasn't around. On top of that, Ikusaba couldn't bare the thought of traumatizing Naegi anymore than she's been through. If anymore trauma came to her, Naegi might snap.

Finally at the door, she stood glaringly at it. She would ensure no matter what, that she would keep tabs on their conversation, through her ears, and the ears of her partner who was watching them. Looking back and forth as always, she leaned in closer to the door as she turned on her transmitter.

"You watching them?" Ikusaba whispered as she listened. After several seconds of static, the voice responded.

"Don't ya worry!" They said in a perky voice. "Your super lovable partner is watching in on every'ting!" It chirped.

"So what are they doing right now?" Ikusaba closed her eyes. She was trying to make out any sounds she could hear from the other side.

"Mmh...Ahh...Kirigiri, you're so good at this..." Naegi oohed as she closed her eyes. As Naegi's eyes lowered, Ikusaba's widened.

_"No way...She couldn't have gotten that close to her already..."_ Ikusaba thought to herself in fear.

"Trust me Naegi, I'll work out those kinks of yours." Kirigiri assured. This only made Ikusaba's jaw drop lower.

_"I-I'm not hearing this!" _Ikusaba quickly shook her head as she focused on the transmitter. "H-Hey! What are they doing in there?" She asked worriedly. She knew her partner. They were her closest and most trusted ally in any situation!

Just not in this one.

"Ooooh, I don't know if you wanna find ooooout." The voice had to hold back the laughter building up in their gullet.

"Just tell me!" Ikusaba raised her voice a bit louder. She had to make sure she wasn't heard from the inside, but she also had to know just what was going on.

"Let's just say, she's currently on top of Naegi, and working hard on her."

"AAAAGHGGGHHHH!" Ikusaba was biting down on her fist to keep herself from shouting.

"Whoo...Man, where did you learn to use your hands like that?" Naegi had to know the secrets behind Kirigiri's massaging techniques.

"When you do the same work I do, you learn a lot of tricks." Kirigiri looked back to the door with a grin.

She knew how fate worked. Right now, if her prediction was correct, Ikusaba was currently listening in on the other side, and possibly crying on the inside. Even if Monokuma was on her side as well, she knew he wouldn't tell Ikusaba what she really wanted to hear.

"Hey Naegi," Kirigiri spoke louder, "tell me how this feels when I use my fingers like this." She began using her middle finger and index finger, pressing various pressure points around Naegi's shoulders.

"Mmmhh!" Naegi couldn't help but moan with glee. "It feels wonderful! I'm surprised you can dig your fingers that deep!"

"Wow, you should really see how she's using her fingers now." The voice over Ikusaba's transmitter said. "I didn't know that was possible!"

"Mmmhmhmmhmhhmmmmmm!" Ikusaba was crying silently as she moaned.

Kirigiri only knew joy from that moment. Working on top of Naegi, so to speak, Ikusaba listening in and moaning in misery, to her delight, it was all perfect. Not wanting to let the moment run out, KIrigiri decided to continue in on their conversation.

"So, Naegi, would you mind if I asked you something?" Kirigiri asked. Naegi shifted her eyes left as she listened.

"What's up?" She replied. Kirigiri debated about the question for a minute, but decided to proceed as followed.

"How have… How have you been?"

"Huh?" Naegi figured she must have meant personally, but she was confused as to why Kirigiri was wondering if she was ok with it. "Well I'm fine, I guess. A bit sad about the last trial and stuff, but I'm doing okay."

"N-No, not that," Kirigiri was shaking her head, "I mean like in recent years."

"Recent years?" Naegi's face grew a perplexed expression. "What do you mean, recent years? Actually why years at all?"

Kirigiri was silent. She knew a deep secret. She wasn't too surprised Naegi must have forgotten in all fairness. After all, it affected her and most of her life more than it did for Naegi's. In fact it would've been more surprising for the time being if Naegi DID remember her at all.

For the time being, she would just wait until the perfect time to tell her.

"Just…wondering." Kirigiri sighed mentally. "Anyway, I'm glad you're doing better lately. These trials and events have taken a toll on everyone recently."

"Hmm." Naegi could give a small smile. "Maybe I'm getting a little stronger lately. But it's not like I'm not sad or anything. I'm still bummed out and sad about a loud of things." Naegi gave her a small frown as she turned her head. "Does it make me a bad person? That I can't feel as sad as I used to be?"

The smile Kirigiri gave her back was reassuring. It told her numerous things, the most important being that she was fine. It was a forgiving sign that told her she shouldn't have to worry about her feelings at the time. Obviously, she wouldn't be smiling like she did otherwise.

"Naegi, after all you've been through, you should be greedy." Kirigiri commented. "You've lost a lot of friends, been betrayed by others, and even experienced death!" She exclaimed. "After all you been through, I'm surprised you're anything but sane."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you a good person, too good sometimes." Kirigiri explained. "You're a kindhearted person who shouldn't worry too much about how she is to others. You've been more concerned about the safety of others and being useful to us than anyone else I've met. You're perfect just the way you are, trust me." She assured.

Naegi had a small blush on her face from the recent comment. She's surprised Kirigiri was so considerate of such a personal question. She could never understand it herself either. She's always been so concerned about living up to everyone else's expectations, so she can't really say for herself if she's been bad or not.

It's not that Naegi was blind to her own kindness, it's just that she can't really see her own kindness and usefulness. Being betrayed by her first friend, kidnapped and assaulted by her second, and losing her life in the third case, she always felt like a burden to the rest of the group.

Was it wrong for her to feel this way? Could anyone else truly say that she wasn't a burden to the group? Of course not! No one has been through what she has as of this moment. No one could say she was acting the way she should be or not.

All anyone knew at the time was that she was a good friend, to everybody.

"So how should I be acting then?" Naegi asked Kirigiri.

"If you really want my advice, just keep being yourself." Kirigiri replied with a smile. "Just stop asking everyone if you're useful or not. Believe me when I say you are useful to everyone. And you're a beloved friend to us all." Naegi could finally smile satisfied.

"Alright…thanks, Kirigiri."

"No problem." Kirigiri's heart fluttered, feeling the pure joy of being useful to Naegi. "Now hold still, I wanna show you this neat trick." She said with excitement.

"Trick? What kind of-!" Naegi's eyes widened as she froze. "A-AHHHHHH!"

She started screaming, not from pain, but from the strange sensation that went through her body as Kirigiri started pulling her arms in a strange sequence. It wasn't exactly painful to her, but it had the strange effect of making her body go numb, save for her head. It was both stimulating and strange at the same time.

"What are you doing?!" Naegi squealed.

"Does it feel good or what?" Kirigiri purposely asked aloud. She wanted to make sure Ikusaba could hear her just fine.

If she did see her at the time, she would've taken joy out of the sight of her curled up against the door, tears endlessly rolling down her face. Luckily, everyone else was asleep at this time, or at least in bed, so she didn't have to worry about anyone seeing her like it.

It probably didn't matter much though, because all she wanted at the moment, was to feel Naegi in her arms, and to experience whatever Kirigiri must be putting her through. She did have her partner telling her what was going on, but her partner wasn't exactly giving her the entire truth like she wanted, only part of it.

This may have seemed like nothing to some people, but if you knew the "truths" she was giving, you wouldn't be surprised.

"Oh my god, look at the way they're twisting!" The voice continued to tease. "I had NO IDEA that Naegi was so flexible."

"Mmmhmmmmm!" Ikusaba cried inside. "This isn't happening, this isn't happening…"

"Ah! I think it's stuck!" Naegi yelped worriedly. She couldn't feel the arm that was currently pointing upwards. It didn't hurt, but at the same time, she couldn't feel it either. "Pull it again, pull it again!" Kirigiri was loving Naegi more by the minute. She was making it so much easier to fool Ikusaba. She was almost tempted to open the door and see whatever position she was currently in at the time.

"Don't worry Naegi," Kirigiri said again in a just-as-loud voice, "I'm sure if tweak it like this, you'll feel soooooo much better!"

"Nnnngnnghhnngngnngnnhnnnhhhhh!" Ikusaba was powerless for the first time in her life.

"Awww don't worry sis!" Her partner encouraged with a sly grin. "I can promise you tomorrow, you'll be seeing much more of Naegi than you could ever dream of!"

….

…

…

ANNNNNNNNNNNNND HOOFTA! Sorry again for the delay guys. Some things are happening here and there, so sometimes my postings might get delayed X/ It might actually cause me to take more than a day to post- whoever heard of such a thing X/.… Either way, I hope I hope I at least make it up to the masses as I post in 10k+ word postings ^^ Although I would like to apologize in advanced if it seems rushed towards the end- this chp alone is over 11k words (my new record ^^!), and aside from running out of ideas to pass zee time, I wanted to post so I didn't lose all (1 X*) of my fans and keep em waiting...

In addition, a shout-out and apology to **Lucken** for being the 40th reviewer. Unfortunately, they missed the deadline, and to avoid complications and put this fanfic on an indefinite hiatus like this usually does, I had to move it to the next person before the deadline passed X/ Sorry Lucken. I promise to fill in a bonus ep with your choice in the future. He/she actually had a verily funny idea for a bonus episode, so i do wanna do it ^^

Sadly, it involves karaoke and singing and stuff, and I can't really stand that kind of thing X/ not that I'm trying to be rude or argue with it, I just need some time to help X/ if anyone can help submit additional ideas for a karaoke night, I'll be sure to do it asap :P

Until then, we'll be looking forward to **Western's** bonus episode for the next update :P! It involves a verily interesting chp pertaining to 1-year-after this story, watching the…..well let's just say it'll be interesting (at least in my opinion ^^)! Speaking of western, I'd like to thank you for making me feel like a complete dick XP! Why do I feel that way? Because apparently he pointed out that about 2(?) days ago was Kirigiri's official birth date. What makes me feel so much like a dick, however, is the fact I made that chapter about Ikusaba and her date with Naegi- way to kill the mood and make me feel guilty dude XP! So hopefully this little kirigirixNaegi time will help make up for that ^^

Anyway, enjoy and like as always, and stay tuned for the next Bonus Ep in the next day or two ^^!


	20. Bonus Episode 3: A Future Birthday

A/N: I have no idea how this chapter/bonus episode will go. All I can say is that I'll be looking forward to it, and lets hope I continue to do so until the very end. Again, a bonus episode as requested by Western! So if you don't like, it's always his fault ^^!

Enjoy!

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***1 Year After The Mutual Killings***

The Future Foundation. When it came to the end of the world, they were the ones who rose from the ashes. While the rest of the world gave in to despair, they were reluctant enough to pick it off from the ground, and begin rebuilding it. They were proof one could survive the despair.

If they weren't, then neither were the survivors of the Mutual Killing game that took place almost 1 year ago. A game that pitted 15 students in a mad game designed to sew despair into the world, where they had to kill one another to escape the twisted school. In a system called "Graduation", the students had to pull off the perfect murder and get away with it in a class trial.

By succeeding, the rest of the classmates would be thoroughly executed and killed, while the survivor ran free. If they failed, they would be "Punished", and pushed through an execution ironically related to their special talent. It was truly a cruel and twisted game. And that wasn't even the worst of it.

If the killer had succeeded, it wasn't just a factor of killing the remaining students in their stead. They would have escaped, right outside into a world filled with even more despair, misery, and killing. A world where they were just as likely to get killed themselves. It was truly a despicable and unholy mind that created this game.

It was thanks to the Future Foundation that the survivors of the Mutual Killing game found refuge. After thwarting the Headmaster's own scheme, and sentencing them to their own execution, the survivors were released from their school-like prison. On the outside, they found not just hope and despair, but the Future Foundation waiting for them.

With their assistance, they were taken to a refuge where the Foundation was based, a place where they could finally be free of the madness that engulfed the rest of the world. That didn't mean they were scot free, however.

Granted, it was their own choice to do so. They weren't forced by the Foundation to join their cause and work for them. If they had chosen it, they would have been allowed to simply live out their lives as normal as possible among the facility, but no. With their own approval, they found themselves once more at work, now working to better the world and pull it from the depths of despair.

Now, they worked tirelessly, with the Foundation. Just after putting their lives on the line, they found themselves once more doing so, to bring Hope and prosperity back into the world. Working with them, they worked to bring life back into terrorized cities, save lives wherever despair had them gripped. Being the survivors of the worst kind of despair, they had the hope needed to resist further despair, never again succumbing to what the rest of the world had lost to.

The most notable of said students was one particular girl, who stood as a grand symbol to all lives throughout the world. Her name, was Naegi Makoto. She stood despair in the face, even when it was wrapped around her throat, and resisted it. Despite not being the strongest, sometimes not even the bravest, she would never relent. She would always stand against those who threw despair at someone else, never backing down even if she was scared.

She became a person who everyone respected, especially those who survived. As long as she lived, everyone would know that hope was also alive. As long as she was around, there would never be a time where someone said despair was stronger than hope. And she, herself, would survive for as long as possible. If not for herself, she would do it so that no one else would lose hope, so she could do what she could to prevent others from ever falling into the depths of despair, ever again.

There was just one little detail that stuck to her through all this time.

...Well, actually, two little details.

And they were with her at the time. Within the Future Foundation's HQ, while spending her day off where she could relax from her latest mission, she was lying in bed. In a room within the facility which was outfitted to feel more like a house within the square-mile-long Base, it was a place to remind her that she was home.

Within this home, she could feel somewhere safe and loved. The safety of the Future Foundation's watchful eye. In a place she could feel comfortable as she slept peacefully and without disturbance from anywhere else. A place that welcomed her each time that she returned.

It was all thanks to the two figures she would often return to. In fact, it was also those two figures that were currently by her side as she slept, all warm and snug in her pink PJs...

"Zzz..."

"Mmmh..."

"Ngh..."

Those were the three peaceful sounds of three students who were blissfully enjoying their day off, right about the time when the 7:00 o'clock morning timer would go off.

_***Beep-Beep-Beep!***_

_***Beep-Beep-Beep!***_

"Mmmmh..." Naegi moaned quietly as her eyelids began to stir.

If there was one thing she hated hearing in the morning, it was the sound of her annoyingly loud timer going off. It wasn't anything she could handle either, due to the alarms being built into the base's computer system. All electronics within the facility were thanks to the multiple systems stemming from the base's supercomputer. It even ran the water systems that ran throughout the facility.

It's probably great it was so advanced too. Within the center of the mile-long facility was a small town. It was considered the safest place in the world, thanks to the state-of-the-art security that ran all across the town.

With virtually over one-hundred firewalls and virus-protection systems installed, there was never any threat or fear that someone could upload a virus to the computer and destroy it. Even in the event that there was a breach, there were a dozen other computers that were prepared to act as a backup system, with a new supercomputer being built each month.

This was practically mankind's stronghold.

And it was currently driving Naegi crazy.

"I wanna break that thing." With a groan and a yawn, she slowly leaned up in bed. Attempting to turn the alarm off, Naegi slowly reached over to the alarm on the table to the right of the bed. Unfortunately, she was stopped after single second, as a pair of arms pulled her back down the bed.

"Ack!" Naegi yelped startled.

Turning to her left, she moaned, but was not surprised, to see Kirigiri's smiling face. It didn't matter if she kept her eyes closed the entire time. She was just content with knowing who was in her arms.

"Mmhhhh c'moooon, stay in bed." She whined.

"But I have to turn off the alarm, it's noisy." Naegi yawned back.

"Ngaaaahhhhhh..." The girl to Naegi's left could be heard yawning innocently. "I'hhh geh ih..." She slurred, reaching down towards the floor near the bed. Naegi rolled her eyes.

"Ikusaba, put down the gun." Naegi didn't even need to check to see what she was trying to do.

After the last seventeen broken and destroyed alarm clocks, the Future Foundation was starting to get a little fed up with replacing them. And while Naegi actually took joy from the few days it took to replace them, she would always get yelled at since Ikusaba was technically "her" responsibility.

It wasn't exactly the whole "destroying the clocks" part that was bothering the Foundation. And, with the Foundation's built-in firing range as part of the facility, gunshots were a normal thing around the building, even though the sounds were on another side of the facility. The part that angered the staff of the Foundation was that it would take several days to integrate the clocks into the supercomputer's mainframe.

And, for one reason or another, no one simply bothered to get a regular clock that wasn't part of the Facility's mainframe, although there were reasons. The alarm clocks also had several other built in alarms to alert staff and members of the facility of various emergencies. While those emergencies have yet to actually happen, it was mandatory to keep everyone on the same level.

*****_**Beep-Beep-Beep!***_

And the noise was only causing Naegi's headache to grow worse and worse.

"Can you PLEASE just let me turn off the alarm?" Naegi practically begged.

"Mmmmh I'll let you go on one conditiiiiiion..." Kirigiri teased, tapping the side of her cheek. Naegi rolled her eyes as she quickly gave Kirigiri a quick peck on the cheek.

"There, now can you please- Ack!" Naegi nearly jumped as another pair of arms wrapped around her neck. Unlike Kirigiri's grip, this one was getting tighter.

"Awwwwwwww no fair!" Ikusaba complained, in just as much of a sleepy state as Kirigiri. Like her, she didn't open her eyes either. Unlike her, she didn't know she was squeezing Naegi to death. "You give Kirigiri one, why not meeeeeee?"

It was like dealing with a bunch of school children. Technically, they were still children. Just not in school.

And the constant beeping was driving Naegi insane. She couldn't help but wonder how Ikusaba and Kirigiri were able to deal with this. Was using this every morning part of their plans? Naegi could admit that she wasn't able to interact with them from time to time, due to being busy with numerous jobs around the facility.

But during the time that she was available for either of them, they would always hog over her, or try cheap tactics like this to get what they wanted. Occasionally, they would try and lock the doors, or make it so that Naegi either couldn't leave the room, or no one could walk in and disturb them.

Either way, at least this time around they were getting along. It would be hectic how they would secretly fight over Naegi while she was completely unaware of it back at school. It was actually a bit like how they did things now. The only difference is that they both wanted her, and wanted a fair or even amount of time with her.

...Now that she thought about it, it was actually a bit worse like this.

At least she became so used to this over time that she knew how to deal with these situations.

"I'll give whoever turns that stupid alarm clock off one lip-to-lip." She promised.

"MOVE IT OR LOSE IT KYOKO!" Ikusaba shouted, diving head first towards it. She was halted by Kirigiri, who stood firmly in her way as she tried to reach over for the alarm's off button.

"BEAT IT TRAMP! THIS ONE'S MINE!" Kirigiri shouted back.

Both girls reached for the button with all their might, while at the same time, each of them were pulling each others arms back at the same time. Neither of them could get closer to the button as they continued fighting for the switch endlessly.

It was times like this Naegi was happy she learned how to _control _the two. It took some practice over time, mostly due to the fact if she did it wrong the two girls would be smooching over her for several minutes- and that's provided she was lucky.

So with a groaning yawn, Naegi stretched as she slowly got out of bed from Ikusaba's side, gingerly walking around the bed and over to the alarm clock. Both girls cried in fear as they watched Naegi click the button with ease, crying to themselves as they both lost their chances.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" They yelled.

"Look girls, I have a minor headache going on here, and it's my day off." Naegi said rubbing her eyes. With another yawn, she slowly climbed over and around Ikusaba and Kirigiri, crawling back into the covers once more. "So I just want to take the day to relax." She finished.

Both girls looked at each other sadly. They knew Naegi's work was hard, especially since she carried the title of the Super High School Level Hope. On top of that, she worked all around the facility with various groups, some of which actually involved meeting with other people who fell into despair itself.

She even worked harder than the other two! And that was saying a lot considering one was a soldier and the other was a supreme detective. When it came to Naegi, she was all over the place, and was working multiple kinds of jobs at once. These two didn't envy her in the least, and they were more than sorry for her.

Which is why they couldn't believe she was tired enough to sleep the day away. A day off was suppose to be a day where you unwind AND have fun at the same time. The fact she couldn't even bring herself to do all this really said a lot about how hard she was currently working. And with the same amount of work they do, they barely had time to enjoy each other's presence.

Both of them knew what the other was thinking, quickly crawling on their sides of the bed as they looked at Naegi sadly.

"But Naegi, this is the one day you have off with the rest of us!" Ikusaba whined.

"We especially can't not do anything today!" Kirigiri added.

The two of them, whether knowing or otherwise, leaned their heads closer with each reason.

"You've been gone for weeks."

"We've barely had time to so much as speak with you."

"You practically never call us either."

"And most importantly-"

"**It's your birthday**!" They said in unison. By this point they were practically whining in Naegi's ear.

"Mmmmh..." Naegi moaned opening her eyelids slightly.

She didn't want to disappoint the two. Being in love with Naegi, the two always wanted to spend time with her during their time off. She couldn't blame them, really. But with how tired work often put her through, she could barely keep a few minutes to herself where she could call or even talk to the other girls, provided they were on the facility.

Often at times, she could sometimes go days or even weeks without seeing other of the two as well. Sometimes, at least twice so far, she found herself working in a part of facility for so long that an entire day would pass by. She wouldn't even notice during that time unless she checked on the clock. Working deep inside the facility, there weren't even any windows to the outside.

And she did love them back, mind you. She cared deeply for both her friends after all she's been through. She did have the decency of loving her other friends just as much, granted she didn't love them the same way she loved these two anymore. She just wasn't exactly crazy like the two tended to act when the three were alone with each other.

"Look, I missed you girls too, alright?" Naegi muttered with a yawn. "But I'm really tired, and my head feels warm. So can I please just rest?"

Kirigiri eyed her curiously. Having enough work experience as of late, Naegi's actually learned a few things here and there, like when she actually has a real fever, as opposed to her body being exhausted from work. Taking off her glove for a brief moment, she gently placed the back of it against Naegi's head.

The result made her groan.

"Uggghhh, she really does have a fever." Kirigiri complained.

She wasn't being selfish or anything. In fact she actually was a bit worried about Naegi due to the fever. It just wasn't that high of one, and she was upset it had to be now of all days to have one.

"Awww poor dear." Ikusaba patted Naegi's head sympathetically. "It is anything bad?" Ikusaba asked turning to Kirigiri. Fortunately, she shook her head in response.

"Nah, it's just a slight one at the moment." Kirigiri replied with a simple smile "It should just take a few hours of rest to cool down." She frowned again looking back to Naegi. "But it's still you're birthday, Naegi! You can't be having a fever now of all days."

"Sorry..." Naegi muttered with another yawn. She turned her head slightly to the left to face the two better. As she did, the pink pigments on her cheek were made more apparent, showing how she did, indeed, have a fever. "Could somebody get me some water?"

"I'll-!"

"I'll get it!" Ikusaba quickly blurted out, already rushing out the door.

"Damn..." Kirigiri grumbled quietly as she watched Ikusaba leave. But with Naegi in the room, her angered expression quickly changed back into a smile as she looked down at Naegi again. "Would you like anything else?" She asked hopefully.

Before Naegi could even reply, Ikusaba was already running back, stomping through the hallways, with a nice cold glass of water in her hands. When it came to requests, the girls appeared to have a rather quick response to it when it came from Naegi.

"Here you go!" She set it to the small side table next to the bed in front of Naegi. Naegi appeared to tired to drink at the moment, so she just left it where it was safe for later.

"Thank you." Naegi closed her eyes again to rest.

"Look, Naegi, we'll let you rest as much as you want, we promise." Kirigiri assured. "But is there anything you can at least let us do? It's your birthday after all."

"And you haven't let us take a bath with you for months!" Ikusaba whined.

*bam*

"OW!" Ikusaba yelped, rubbing her left shoulder where Kirigiri punched it.

She got the gist of the problem. Obviously, the last thing Naegi would want to hear is her complaining about how they haven't bathed together in months. Then again, that was just Kirigiri's assumption.

And her only excuse to hit her for old time's sake.

"Baths aside, you have to at least let us do something for you." Kirigiri insisted. "It is your birthday after all."

Both girls leaned in closer, somewhat hopeful. Naegi sighed mentally, knowing they wouldn't let down until she gave them even the smallest task to do with them. Like always, she knew she couldn't blame them. It's been forever since they hung out all at once, and now Naegi was sick during the time. It was a serious case of bad timing and luck.

Stupid misleading talent.

She also didn't want to disappoint the two. Even when she was busy most of the time, she did what she could to make it up for the loss of time each time she met with the two. One time she took a bath with Ikusaba. Another time, she was cooking with Kirigiri, who at the time, tried to purposely get Naegi covered in a mess to shower with her later.

Even if the acts seemed perverted, which they were, it didn't always come down to just that category of activities. More often than not, they would always play games or watch movies together when they had the opportunity to. With the world in ruins, they were limited to things that were only made in the past, and found during the Foundation's weekly scavenging adventures.

On the bright side, with the world coming to order slowly, some movies were being made. Provided, these were just mediocre things being made by the public, but they still helped lighten the mood. The one thing to keep people from despairing was to provide entertainment, something to keep their minds off the past.

So, with all this in mind, Naegi tried to think. She knew since it was her birthday, Kirigiri and Ikusaba would indefinitely want to do something special for her. With them being the great friends that they were, she wasn't even considering denying them their request. All it came down to at that moment was trying to figure out exactly what to do. It would have to be something special, that would take awhile, and would make everyone satisfied.

"Well," Naegi turned her head a bit with a small smile, "I wouldn't mind a birthday cake if anything." Both girls beamed excitedly at this.

"That's an awesome idea!" Ikusaba cheered.

"Would you like any specific kind?" Kirigiri wondered for detail. "Like Ice Cream cake, Angel's Food," she blushed slightly as she grew a sly grin, "Better Than Sex caaaake..." Ikusaba blushed as well with excitement. Naegi rolled her eyes, closing her eyelids once more.

"Strawberry Shortcake?" Naegi suggested. "Or better yet, just surprise me."

"If you insist!" They both cheered at once.

By the time Naegi even opened her eyes, they were already seen bolting out the door, closing it swiftly, yet surprisingly quiet, altogether. Naegi might end up regretting this later on. Actually, she was sure she'd regret it later on. But at least this way, it would take a few hours for them to make it.

All she cared about at this time was getting several hours of rest.

_"After all, what could go wrong with the two of them cooking together...?"_ Naegi thought to herself. The fact she momentarily shook from goose bumps wasn't a good sign...

...

...

...

"We got enough eggs?" Kirigiri asked as she read the instructions. Checking through the fridge carefully, Ikusaba pulled her head with a smile.

"We go enough for several cakes." She replied. She couldn't help but look back into the fridge with fascination. "I'm honestly surprised how well they keep it stocked."

Of course it would be kept well stocked. After all, this is the housing of the Ultimate Symbol of Hope.

With all the work she was forced to go through, all the challenges she had to face while working for the Future Foundation, she was well compensated for her troubles. Like all the high-leveled staff of the Future Foundation, her entire house was run by the supercomputer's mainframe.

With a simple two-story house with soundproof rooms, Naegi was given some of the finest accommodations to live with. With a security system that can actually detect a person's I.D. by scanning their body heat and brain waves, it was almost impossible for anyone to trespass or intrude within the housing unless Naegi shut down the system herself.

Of course, the house was specifically made for Naegi, and her two housemates, so they never had to worry about a glitch or accidentally mistaking them for someone else. Kirigiri was actually surprised how well equipped the security system was, at least when it came to the detection systems. For a computer to be able to tell a person's I.D. by their body heat, and scanning their brainwaves at the same time, it was practically something Fujisaki would have created herself.

In the highly unlikely event someone did end up trespassing, the security was non-lethal but very sophisticated. There were at least several notable defense systems put into place. The first, and least concerning, was a security alert. Despite not being in plain sight, there were at least fourteen different security cameras located throughout the housing. This resulted in at least one camera per room.

With the exception of the bedroom and bathrooms for obvious reasons.

Should the security alert be brought up, a simple name-tag sweep would be carried out. The scanners and system would check for any form of identification on said trespasser. The reason being would usually be in case another member of the staff entered the room looking for Naegi, or simply entering the wrong room entirely. With the scanner check in place, it was the least defensive and concerning security measure.

The second and third security system in check proved to be a little more lethal. In the event a non-Future Foundation member was scanned and revealed within the room, the house would initiate a full-scale lockdown, barricading the doors and halls to the different rooms with metallic plating. Everything from the doors, windows, even the walls, would be covered in thin yet highly durable metal plates.

Afterwards, the security scanners would initiate an X-ray-like scan throughout the person's being, in order to check and determine for any possible hostile weaponry on them. In the event one would be discovered, the entire flooring of the room they were in would deliver a non-lethal, but highly powerful, electrical shock to anyone touching the floor. This would deliver about four-thousand volts to the trespasser, effectively knocking them out cold. It was basically a room-wide Taser.

After the third security measure, provided the person's vitals or brainwaves indicated they were unconscious, a security team would be sent down to collect the intruder. As powerful as this was, half the time, this resulted in the computer's mainframe and security system accidentally KO'ing the Janitor who would clean around the facility every now and then. After about several cases of this happening, Naegi proclaimed it would just be easier for herself to clean the housing.

This might seem like a bit much to some people within the facility, but when you're in charge of protecting a highly regarded figure who stands as a symbol to an apocalyptic world, you had to be careful.

This covered the basics of the home security system. This didn't even cover the appliances Naegi was accommodated with.

The kitchen itself was one of the various rooms which was well equipped for just about any form of cooking and eatery.

There were about several advanced fridges within the housing, with a single walk-in freezer, which stretched about twenty feet long and wide. There was never a worry or issue of someone ending up trapped in here. In the event such a scenario was to occur, there were actually several emergency exits which exited into the hallways of the facility. All of these were non-electronic, in the event of a power outage, and were actually hatches which dropped into the hallways, no one was likely to enter through it by mistake.

The floors were well polished wooden floors, with metallic slaps underneath in case the third security measure was required to be taken. All windows within the housing were blast proof and bulletproof, making it impossible for a regular break in. And due to security reasons, none of the windows within the second floor, where Naegi's personal living quarters were located, were actual windows. They were security screens which displayed the scenery outside. She could actually browse through the screens like a TV to look at different viewpoints of the outside world.

Back with the kitchen, the room was equipped with multiple stove tops, three separate ovens, and an actual built-in grill. While this might not seem like the most interesting of the accommodations, with each of them being connected to the supercomputer's mainframe, each of them had several functions in comparison to the regular household appliance.

The kitchen even had it's own bar area, being able to support the size to house it. While Naegi was still underage to drink, it did at least store several varieties of soda and fruit drinks. And to be honest, even if she was underage, Ikusaba took it upon herself to at least sneak in one wine bottle or two. She always wanted to have that "special night" with Naegi, and has continued waiting for the chance to use it.

This was truly a setting fit to house a president, king, or queen. All of this, while being surrounded by state-of-the-art security, all while surrounded by the Future Foundation itself within the Facility. It was practically a fortress. And all of this, was to protect the very symbol of Hope.

Well that and her two self-proclaimed "Bodyguards". It was the only excuse they could come up with to be around her like this. The two "Bodyguards" who practically worshipped her on a day-to-day basis.

Being the Ultimates that they were, they made absolute sure that their worshipping was secluded to within the housing only. After all, they still did have jobs to preform while within the Future Foundation. They did a surprising job of acting professional when outside the housing, even when Naegi was around.

It wasn't just a matter of trying to keep themselves from being removed or restricted from being around Naegi. They did actually take their job seriously, and did everything in their power to preform at 110% of their capabilities. Whether to show their dedication to the Future Foundation, or just to impress Naegi, they worked to their fullest and without complaint.

Except when it came to being away from Naegi for so long.

It drove them nuts from time to time. Not just because of actually being away from her, but with their jobs they were to preform around the world, it sometimes drove them crazy from worry. Worry that something might happen to their beloved Naegi, or sometimes themselves. And if it was themselves, it was just because they wouldn't see Naegi again.

So when it came to these days off that they had, days where all three of them could be together for the time being, they ENSURED Naegi was aware of how much she was loved.

The means through which, some we'll keep confidential.

As for the non-confidential kind, it usually involved working to do whatever pleased Naegi, or helped her feel relaxed. It brought joy to them, and to her, all at once. Just like now, as they continued working on making Naegi's cake. Having worked on it for the last half hour, all that was left was for it to be battered, panned, and baked.

And neither of them felt any shame cooking while wearing "Kiss-The-Chef" written, white aprons.

"You think she'll like this?" Ikusaba asked, working on the frosting.

"Here's hoping." Kirigiri gestured raising her rubber spatula. "Once we have the batter and stuff done, we just need to think of how to decorate it."

"What about flavor? She did say she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake first."

"Hmm..." Kirigiri tapped her chin with the base of the spatula. "Maybe if she's feeling better a bit later, we can ask her what she wants."

"We can't do that!" Ikusaba yelled. "She said she wanted us to surprise her, remember? It won't be much of a surprise if she knows what to expect." Kirigiri blinked at this.

"Huh...That actually is a good point." She agreed as she began to stir again.

"Maybe we should make different types for each slice." Ikuaba suggested. "We can have a slice with fruit, some with a jelly filling, some with ice cream, you know."

"Oooh! That does sound like a good idea."

The two continued to work tirelessly on making the cake with the best of their ability. If you could see how well the two were getting along now, you wouldn't be able to believe they were once hated enemies a year ago.

Back then, they would literally be at each other's throat, trying to claw each other's eyes out. Of course back then, Ikusaba was working for Super High School Level Despair, alongside her sister. But during the events that preceded it, and the work they've been through after, the two were finally getting along.

Of course, they still had their quarrels here and there. They always competed together when it came for vying for Naegi's attention. Half the time they were still at each others throats, albeit in a more playful manner, and the other half of the time, untangling one another from each other's traps to keep each other away from Naegi.

Regardless of how it went, however, they were more willing to cooperate more than half the time now as opposed to before. With their pasts behind them, they both agreed on a permanent truce with one another, all for Naegi's sake. As long as they could both have Naegi, they were no longer trying to kill each other...usually.

"Hmmmm...Ok! That should do it." Kirigiri finally announced. "How's the frosting?"

Putting a dab on it on her finger for a taste test, Ikusaba nodded back with a smile. "A-Okay! Should be ready for the cake now."

"Excellent."

Kirigiri was trilled as she pulled out the cake pan. This would be the first birthday she would get to celebrate for Naegi's birthday, or at least that she would remember. Having her memory wiped of her school life beforehand, she wouldn't be able to know if she ever celebrated Naegi's birthday before.

Checking the cook book for the last time, she smiled as she slowly eased the batter into the pan, lying it out across the pan evenly. She made sure she kept a slow and steady pace, wanting everything to be perfect for Naegi's first birthday cake in a long time. With a final check, she happily pulled open the oven, preset for the designated temperature, setting the timer for the final requirement; the baking.

"Alright," Krigiri re-examined the settings to make sure everything was legit, "so it should be just half an hour for the cake to be done. Set the frosting in the fridge so it'll be nice and cool."

"Already a step ahead of you." Ikusaba stated, setting the bowl in the fancy fridge. With a sigh of relief, she closed the fridge. Smiling to herself, she casually turned around as she hopped onto the counter top, relaxing after all the work they went through in the last hour. "Anything else we need to get done?"

"Nope." Kirigiri shook her head as she sat atop the counter as well. "Now we just need to wait for it to bake." Ikusaba took a deep breath followed by a yawn.

"Ahhhh, and it's only 9:30." Ikusaba pointed out. "Maybe we should go and keep her company."

"Nah, let her sleep in." Kirigiri paused a moment to rub her sleep-filled eyes. "She does more work than either of us. She deserves the time she has off to relax."

"I know buuuuut," Ikusaba groaned out as she stretched, "we haven't even showered with her yeeeeet." She whined. Kirigiri rolled her eyes playfully.

"I'm sure she'll be up for one when she's more awake." And with that, she sighed.

Despite the fact the two never fought anymore, they were a little bit less than close friends, but friends nonetheless. At the same time, they never really socialized outside much if the topic didn't relate to Naegi. They didn't hate each other anymore at least, and they were socializing a bit more than just name-calling each other.

The trouble came in with what to talk about. After all Ikusaba's done in her past as a member of High School Despair, it was kind of hard to relate herself or socialize with someone who helped kill her own father. She didn't blame her anymore, but it was still a tidbit that made it hard to start a conversation with her. At least she was trying.

"Soooooo..." Kirigiri stared off into thought. She at least wanted to try starting a conversation with her. "How's work been on your end?"

Ikusaba shrugged. "Meh, about the same. They're still having me go through stupid therapy sessions at least twice every other day." Kirigiri wasn't surprised.

As a former member of Ultimate Despair, Ikusaba herself was not immune to Despair's all-seductive gaze. In fact, because she was Ultimate Despair, she was more susceptible to falling back into Despair compared to anyone else. It was only when her thoughts were focused on Naegi, or Naegi was around her, she felt herself at a calm.

Despite the possible threat this made her, she was a necessity to the Future Foundation's future plans. They needed someone who was willing, someone who had already fallen into the same kind of despair that abducted the world entirely. It was like having an inside man working for them, but one who could exist in two separate worlds.

With Ikusaba, the Future Foundation believed they could find some way to reverse the Despair, or figure out how it was that Naegi pulled her from it's grip. Granted, her therapy sessions were legit therapy, not actual testing or experiments. They couldn't do anything cruel or inhumane- even if they wanted to, she was the only person of Despair working for them. On top of that, if Naegi, or anyone in the outside world found out what they would do, they would lose any and all credibility and belief that they were for the better of humanity.

Besides, the therapy sessions did help a little from time to time. For starters, most of the issues stemming from Ikusaba's Despair is similar to what other members found in other Despair-induced humans. Most of them, if not all, had some interaction with the Super High School Level Despair, Junko Enoshima. Those who had direct contact showed little-to-no sign of coming out of their despair. While this might not have seemed like much, this did help them pull other citizens of the world from their own despair, allowing them to gain allies, followers, and survivors from the outside world.

It would still take some time to pull those survivors from despair, of course.

"They're still making me take that stupid medicine each day too." Ikusaba continued. "I honestly don't know why though, I don't feel any different throughout the day."

"Maybe it's just a reaction-based drug." Kirigiri suggested. "Maybe it only works if you're starting to fall under Despair?"

"It would explain a lot then." Ikusaba kicked her legs gently back and forth. "As long as I keep thinking of Naegi and the works, I don't feel any depression whatsoever. Because of it, I also don't notice if I'm falling into despair though. I never really tried not thinking of Naegi whenever I'm surrounded with despair."

"Do you want to give it a test run and see what happens?"

"Hell no!" Ikusaba yelped. "You know what this thing will do if I fall under it again?!" Ikusaba lifted up her shirt, reminding Kirigiri of the strange circular device strapped around her chest.

Kirigiri didn't need any actual reminders, naturally. The device was sort of a safety precaution in case Ikusaba ever fell under Despair again. It was actually thanks to Naegi that she was currently wearing it, but at the same time, also thanks to her that she was still alive.

When the Future Foundation first found Naegi and Co. within the city days after their narrow escape, they were shocked and surprised to see a member of Ultimate Despair walking amongst their group. At first, their first thoughts were an immediate and swift execution before she could do any harm. It was only thanks to Naegi's intervention and negotiating, that they came to this alternative.

While it's unknown just how lethal it is, at least to Ikusaba and the rest, the device would activate should Ikusaba fall under complete despair once more. If it was to activate, it would unleash a painful jolt of electricity, would could, most likely, end up killing her. It was the only way Naegi could convince them to bring her with the rest of them, and the Future Foundation wasn't about to argue with her. They needed the Ultimate Symbol of Hope to be on their side at all times. If not, it would be harder for anyone to rebuild society with hope in their own lives.

Thankfully, it hasn't been made apparent if Ikusaba would fall under despair anyway. Being strictly observed and monitored the entire time, having several therapy sessions throughout the week, and taking some strange medicine, which effects she has yet to notice, there was little worry that she would switch back into Ultimate Despair anytime soon.

"What are they doing at the therapy sessions?" Kirigiri asked curiously. She's never been one to walk in and talk in the sessions herself, despite being capable of doing so. She felt it was better for the former Ultimate Despair to have her alone time.

"Just boring, useless stuff." Ikusaba moaned. She set her elbow on her legs as she leaned her head on her right hand. "They keep asking pointless things like what's my life been like, what makes me feel depressed, that sort of thing. And they keep thinking I know something else about what Super High School Level Despair is doing. I keep telling them I don't know!"

Kirigiri swayed her right hand. She did agree with Ikusaba's grumblings, but at the same time, she knew the Future Foundation had to play it safe. "Well you can't really blame them, you know. I mean your sister WAS the leader behind all this."

"I know, I knoooooow! Guuuh!" Ikusaba grumbled rolling her eyes. "But they're making it feel more like an interrogation than a therapy session. I mean do you know how annoying it gets getting asked the same questions a dozen times a week?"

"They probably think you're just hiding something, so you can't blame them." Kirigiri was pretty confident in that line of thinking. How else were the members of the Foundation supposed to feel safe unless they knew what a former member of their enemy was thinking? "I mean, you are the Super High School Level Mercenary, remember? You could probably go weeks through torture without revealing anything."

"I would go months if it got them to shut up." She yawned again. "I really just wish they'd get it through their head; I'm not Ultimate Despair anymore!"

"Well, look on the bright side," Kirigiri tried cheering her up, "at least Naegi's on your side." Ikusaba actually smiled a bit at this.

"Yeah, that is one positive side to all this at least. As long as I have her support and trust, I'll be fine."

***DING!* **

Both Ikusaba's and Kirigiri's eyes lit up as they heard the oven go off. They were surprised how much conversing with one another actually managed to pass the time. With a quick smile back to one another, the two jumped from their respective counters, Ikusaba heading over while Kirigiri simply turned around for the oven.

"And with that, everything should be do-" Kirigiri was cut off after giving the handle a single tug. The oven usually opened with relative ease as they were made to be easy-to-use and access. However, strangely enough, the oven refused to open. "Huh...strange..." Kirigiri muttered.

Using both her arms, she gave the oven a harder tug. Unfortunately, it ended with the same results. "Come on you stupid...Ghhhhh!" Kirigiri grumbled as she pulled the handle harder and harder.

"What's wrong?" Ikusaba couldn't tell if Kirigiri was acting or not. It was just a simple oven handle, how hard could it be to open?

"The stupid oven won't open!" Kirigiri replied looking back.

"Please, just leave it to me." Ikusaba stood in front of the oven as Kirigiri moved to the side. "It's just a matter of using your shoulders." She gripped the bar gently with both her hands. "You just steady your wrist, position both your elbows, and with a simple pull-!"

***CRACCCCKKKKKK!***

Kirigiri blinked. "Annnnd you break off the handle." She eyed the bar curiously. "Thanks for the informative lesson on how to destroy household appliances." She joked. She moved closer to the oven again as she checked around for the controls. All the while, Ikusaba just stood there dumbfounded as she stared at the handle. "We'll figure out how to take it out after, but let's turn it off first to be safe."

"U-Umm...K-K-Kirigiri..." Ikusaba stuttered nervously.

"Hey, where's the controls on this thing?"

The appliances around the house were built directly into the walls, so the ovens were basically flat in appearance. Only the handles to them were popped out of the walls for putting in and taking out the food.

Kirigiri herself didn't really know what to expect or how to work this stupid thing either. When it came to cooking, Naegi was usually the only one who used the oven. With the appliances usually encrypted to the three's DNA, they were the only ones who usually messed with any household electronics.

Yet no matter how much she looked, Kirigiri couldn't find anything to do with the oven. And the fact it was still on and cooking the cake inside worried her. She always worked on a systematic scale- she always processed how long it took to plan something, how long it would take to actually do it, and then how long it would take to complete it. She was seeing little results in opening the oven though.

"K-Kirigiri..." Ikusaba muttered again.

"What is it?" Kirigiri groaned, not even looking back. She wanted everything to be perfect about Naegi's cake. She didn't want a single detail to be off! "Whatever it is, can it wait? Help me open this thing." She probably should've asked Ikusaba to let her do it to begin with. She had no idea how to work this strange oven, so the experience would've been useful for her.

"Kirigiri!" Ikusaba finally yelled.

"What?!" Kirigiri yelled looking back. With another gulp, Ikusaba turned the handle around for her to see.

"I-I don't think that oven's turning off anytime soon..." She squealed.

Kirigiri's eyes widened in horror, finally realizing what Ikusaba was worried about.

It's no wonder Kirigiri couldn't find the on/off switch, and it was unsurprising she couldn't open it anymore. All the controls, all the appliances that were used for the oven, were set on the handle. The very handle Ikusaba just broke off moments ago. If there was any denial that the handle wasn't responsible for working the oven, then the yellow broken-apart wires that were protruding from the inside of the handle left little doubt.

It finally dawned on Kirigiri the horror of the situation. There was no way to pull the cake out of the oven, and now there was no way to turn off the oven either. With the only way to access the oven, as well as the only means to open it, destroyed, they were about to face a crises between stopping a potential fire hazard, and saving Naegi's cake.

"Y-You..." Kirigiri was lost for words. "You...b-broke off the **CONTROL PANEL?!**" She shouted in frustration and disbelief.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ikusaba shook her head madly. "M-Maybe we can still fix it, or at least turn the oven off!" She tried being optimistic. She brought the bar over carefully to where it snapped off, angling it so the destroyed edges lined up perfectly. "There, see? If we just connect the wires and the edges like this, we can-"

***Beep!-Beep!-Beep!-"**

Ikusaba's eyes twitched nervously as the alarm was going off. Kirigiri had yet to even turn around to watch her. All she could do at the moment was squeeze her fist, trying to keep from shouting and making the situation any worse. All she did was take a deep breath, squeezed her finger over her eyes, and then exhaled out.

"Ikusaba?" She said in a calming, peaceful, manner.

"Y-Y-Yes?" Ikusaba's sweat and fear increased by the second.

"I'm not going to be mad. I just want to ask you a simple, calming, question." She firmly said.

"O-Ok-Ok..." Ikusaba was shaking as she tried reattaching the handle, with fail.

"Why..." She breathed deeply again as she continued. "Why is the alarm going off?" Ikusaba had tears trailing down her face from fear.

"B-Be-Because...Ap-Apparently when I broke off the control panel, I-I...I m-mean it must've...accidentally glitched, and set the t-temperature to high..." She trailed off.

Through impossible odds, Kirigiri managed to maintain a calm demeanor. "And what does that have to do with the alarm currently going off-" She paused as she sniffed. "And why do I smell smoke...?"

"B-Because...The current temperature is reading 999 degrees Celsius, a-and the cake is burning now." Ikusaba's tears grew as did the size of her sweat.

"That's very good. Now, I have an even more important question."

"Y-Yes?"

"Exactly how burnt is the cake we spent two hours making for Naegi?"

"U-Umm...o-on a s-scale to 1-to-Fire, how much do you wanna hear?" Kirigiri's brow twitched in response.

It took every fiber of her being to keep from shouting. If it wasn't for the fact Naegi was trying to sleep with a fever, she would've lost it right there and then. Taking a few moments to collect herself, Kirigiri calmly smiled down to Ikusaba with a crooked smile.

"Ok." She said with a twisted calmness. "Ikusaba, where's the house's control panel?"

The control panel, as the name implies, was the computer system that operated all the electronics within the house. From it, all the electronics, security system, everything electrical could be operated from it. In addition, the supercomputer was also connected to it, allowing the controls to be set from the supercomputer itself as well, in case of emergencies.

It could also be used to operate anything electrical within the household. You could turn on the TV and change the channels, operate the oven, set the temperature in the entire house, everything. The only thing it couldn't do was shutdown all the security systems entirely, and that was because the security systems connected to the supercomputer, which connected to the entire complex of the Future Foundation.

"O-Oh!" Ikusaba's eyes widened with hope. "I-It's in the hallway! Follow me!" She quickly instructed. Kirigiri wasted no time to follow her.

It only took a few steps out of the kitchen to find it. Being built into the walls, it was basically a wide-frame touch screen. All the applications and function within the house could be operated from this one little window.

"Ok, how do you work this thing?" Ikusaba asked.

"Stand aside, I have this." Kirigiri assured. Ikusaba watched as her fingers danced across the surface, typing it with surprising as she worked to fix the trouble they've caused. It only took several seconds until they came to the Kitchen's power grid itself. "Ok, I'm in the kitchen, now what?" She knew how to work it, just not how to use the functions.

"Just find the remote access controls, it should be able to shut down all the systems at once."

"Alright..." Kirigiri immediately went to work he best she could.

There had to be something within this that would tell her how to fix all of this. The rising stench of the smoke from the other room was quickly spreading into the halls. The last she wanted was for it to reach the second floor where Naegi was sleeping. She couldn't stand the idea of Naegi waking up, and then start a long twisted explanation as to why they set the oven on fire just by trying to bake a cake.

After messing with it for some time, Kirigiri suddenly froze. Her eyes were gaped with fear as her jaw dropped slightly. Whatever Kirigiri was thinking, Ikusaba was too frightened to ask. There was already so much going on at once, she didn't want more bad news.

"I-Ikusaba?" Kirigiri mumbled.

"Yes?" This would not end well.

"Do you still have that handle from the oven?" She didn't bother checking herself.

"Umm yeah," Ikusaba hesitated as she looked down at her hands, "why?"

To her relief, Kirigiri stood up calmly with a smile. Then to her horror, Kirigiri's right eye was twitching. "Oh, well that's good to know then. Do you know how the electronics work here?"

"Umm n-not entirely, why?" Her heart was racing. She had a good idea of where this was going/

"Well, today I have a very interesting science lesson for you." She said calmly as she took the handle from Ikusaba. "You see, the electronics in this house, sort of work like Christmas lights"

"A-And I'm," Ikusaba gulped, "g-guessing..."

"Yes, good Ikusaba. See, unlike Christmas lights, all the other electronics can work as long as they're connected to the system, or an outlet in the common sense. Interestingly enough, however, unlike Christmas lights, we can't turn the oven off, since controls to the oven, which we'll playfully call the light bulb in this case, is disconnected to the oven."

"Uh huh..." Ikusaba scratched her chin as she tried putting on a small smile. "Y-You know, you're taking this surprisingly well, with all that's given." Kirigiri squeezed her fist.

"That's because, even though this house is soundproof in all the rooms, I don't think it would possible to contain the amount of sound I would unleash if I screamed." She explained. Ikusaba didn't want to test her on that. The fact the side of Kirigiri's mouth was twitching was enough proof of this.

Things were officially terrible. Naegi's cake was on fire in the kitchen oven, there was no way to turn it off from the inside due to Ikusaba breaking the control panel off which was on the handle, and there was no way either of them could fix the problem, mostly due to the fact that Naegi was the only one who knew how her house entirely worked.

And her problems were about to get ten times worse.

"Ikusaba?" Kirigiri spoke up.

"Y-Yes..." Kirigiri could see right in Ikusaba's eyes. She was staring straight passed Kirigiri in horror.

"Why are you staring into the kitchen?"

"U-Umm..."

"And why is it getting hotter from there?"

"O-Oh...y-you know...on fire..." Ikusaba couldn't even form a complete sentence. The only thing she could do, is widen her eyes along with Kirigiri as they both screamed.

"_**THE KITCHEN'S ON FIRE!"**_

The two rushed into the kitchen as fast as their tired feet could carry them. True enough, it wasn't just limited to the oven anymore. The fire had apparently burned straight through straight through the glass, bursting outside into the kitchen itself. It was relatively easy for the fire to spread across the wooden floors, covering at least a fourth of the kitchen in flames.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Ikusaba yelled in shock.

"AHHHH!" Kirigiri panicked. She quickly rushed over to the fire, pulling off her apron. From what she knew about dealing with natural flames, she began swiping at it with the apron, slowly but effectively, snuffing it out little by little. "Ikusaba! Get the baking soda!" She yelled.

"Huh?" She couldn't believe Kirigiri was thinking of more cooking at a time like this. "We already have a fire, why would you want to cook?!"

"No you dumbass!" Kirigiri shouted. She wasn't exactly angry with her cooking partner, she was just stressed out at how slowly her apron was managing to put out the burning inferno. "To-achheakth!" Kirigiri coughed briefly as she inhaled the smoke. She lifted the top of her shirt and pulled it over her nose, trying to keep from breathing in further smoke. "Use it on the fire! It'll help put it out!" She quickly explained.

"Oh...!" Ikusaba's eyes widened in realization. "OH!" She yelled.

She quickly searched through the cupboards trying to find it. Luckily, she knew what it would look like, so she didn't need to waste further time asking what to look for. But it still took almost a minute for the mercenary to find it throughout all the cupboards in the kitchen.

After searching through several cupboards, Ikusaba finally smiled as she found what she was looking for. Reaching for it quickly, it became even more fortunate as she noticed how much it weighed, indicating it was full. Finally grabbing it, she quickly pulled it out, bumping it past numerous items, and tore it open as hard as she could.

During the procedure, she ended up spraying half of it into her face and chest from the excess force. She was powerless against the overwhelming urge that came as her nose twitched.

"Achoo!" She squeaked. She quickly rubbed her nose before getting to work.

With numerous, swift thrusts, a cloud of baking powder rained all across the floor, slowly but efficiently snuffing out the fire. It was doing a much better job in dousing the fire than Kirigiri's apron was. In all fairness though, she didn't have much to work with as the apron only covered up to her leg's length.

Despite the war the two girls did battle with against the raging fire, it was a losing fight. Aside from spraying Kirigiri and over half the kitchen in baking powder, the fire refused to stop. It continued to rage across the floors, spreading around everywhere each minute. If it wasn't for the fact Kirigiri's apron was fireproof, she would have caught on fire several minutes ago. That didn't help against the suite and dark stains that resulted in beating the fire.

And each time they even got part of the fire out, it just started regrowing on the other side of the room. It was painful, annoying, and most of all, it was setting off all kinds of alarms. They could not be having this happen, again, in Naegi's housing of all places.

There was a sprinkler system to the house in cases of emergencies. The problem was, in response to using it, it would short circuit all the electricity within the housing, and take hours for the Future Foundation members to fix. Along with this, Naegi would go through several hours of being yelled at by one of the members, and be forced to go through another lecture on proper housing procedures and usage.

It annoyed the both of them. They hated anyone who would argue or yell at _their_ Naegi.

Which was sad to say, because it was the only person the only person that could fix this problem as of now.

"W-We're out of baking powder!" Ikusaba yelled.

"Ouch!" Kirigiri yelped. She dropped the apron into the fire as she felt a small flame burn her hand again.

Now both the girls were without their defenses. The two of them slowly backed away from the flames, back into the hallway. No matter how much they wanted to refrain from doing so, there was no way out of this, short from asking for help. With a groan, and a heavy heart, the two looked at each other with fear.

There was only one option.

"Naegi?" Ikusaba asked regretfully.

"Naegi..." Kirigiri sighed. Taking in a deep breath, the two of them decided to shout at once.

At least this way, they would both get into trouble at once.

_**"NAE-"**_

***sptzszszszszszszsszsszszssszszs-***

Before the two could even finish their word, the sprinkler system kicked in. The water coming down from the ceiling sprinklers were actually rather unique on their own. The water was specially designed to snuff out any fires from any source without spreading it anywhere else. It was designed to douse any of the flames, regardless of what their source was from, such as a grease fire, or oil-based fire. It was quite advanced for water.

It worked like it was expected to. Compared to the losing battle Kirigiri and Ikusaba were pulling off, the sprinkler system managed to douse the flames with ease. Not just within the kitchen, but it successfully managed to douse the source of the fire coming from the oven. It was quite convenient that an emergency sprinkler was placed even within the oven. The only difference is that that one had to be set off manually.

Also, regrettably, as expected, many of the lights and electronics of the housing started flickering off and on as the electricity coursed through them. It was a nightmare to experience if you were smack dab in the middle of watching it all. It took a little over thirty seconds before all the electricity finally burnt out, save for the sprinkler system which was powered by the supercomputer's mainframe.

The two were shocked to see the sprinklers go off, but they had a pretty good assumption as to why it did. Turning around slowly, their pupils shrank. There she was, Naegi, who still appeared half asleep in her now-drenched pajamas, looking irritably at the two with her hand still on the control panel of the house. Actually it was a little hard to tell if she was irritated or not, seeing how her eyelids were only half-opened. Yet it was a pretty good assumption, since Ikusaba and Kirigiri managed to successfully destroy Naegi's cake, short circuit the electricity within her housing, and effectively destroy her birthday, and it was only 10:30 in the morning.

_**"-gi..."**_ They both muttered upon seeing the soaking wet Naegi. Even if she wasn't going to be mad at them herself, they still hated themselves for what they managed to pull off.

"Next time," Naegi spoke with a yawn, "you set a house on fire, just tell me so I don't have to hear it from an alarm." She mumbled.

Knowing the Future Foundation would be on her in about half an hour, wanting a full explanation and rundown of what happened, she hazily dragged herself back to bed, not caring that she was soaked, as she tried to get what few minutes of remaining sleep she could.

As much as the two wanted to argue, or say something to make Naegi feel better, they really couldn't. To them, they both did the one incomprehensible thing ever. Matter of fact, they actually just committed the greatest sin these two only knew about, which they knew as the sighed.

They ruined Naegi's birthday.

...

...

...

"-birthday to... you." Ikusaba and Kirigiri groaned as they bowed slightly.

It was about two hours after the dramatic fire which had enveloped the kitchen. Everything was finally dried up after long last, but as expected, the electricity was still offline for another few hours. Most of the wood would have to be replaced, one of the two ovens would have to be pulled out from the wall itself, effectively making a large hole in the housing for some time, and there was still soot all around the place.

Ikusaba and Kirigiri continued hating themselves as they lowered their heads. Because of their shenanigans, they ruined what was supposed to be Naegi's calm, relaxing day off. They couldn't even bring themselves to talk to her, or ask her for forgiveness. They were pretty sure she was already pissed.

It would be more obvious if she actually showed it, but given Naegi's kindheartedness, she wouldn't allow it to show if she was angry. She just gave a small smile to the two as they lowered their heads. It was a good thing most of the tall stool-like chairs were in fine and usable condition. It gave her a place to sit while the other two just stood there.

The two still tried to have a "cake" for Naegi for afterwards, but after the last incident, they didn't want to take any chances making another cake. Instead, the two spent the last hour baking a batch of brownies, which they topped off with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. As a last decoration, they had a single candle stemming from the top of it, currently lit, and symbolizing how it was still her birthday.

"Thanks girls." Naegi said with a small smile. She wanted to at least seem appreciative to the two frowning girls. The two couldn't bring themselves to look at her with their sad eyes. Not wanting their "cake" to go to waste, Naegi took a quick breath as she blew out the single candle.

"We're really sorry we ruined your birthday, Naegi." Ikusaba moaned.

"I-It's okay, honest!" Naegi insisted. "I mean I didn't get yelled at at least this time."

"That's only because the security footage caught us acting like a bunch of idiots who started the fire." Kirigiri reminded.

Being the only thing that was waterproof within the housing, the security cameras managed to catch Ikusaba's and Kirigiri's escapades the entire time. It showed everything, from them backing the cake, until the very end where they screamed Naegi's name. So, thanks to this, Naegi avoided a long, groaning lecture.

"We're sorry we ruined your cake too, Naegi." Ikusaba apologized again. "We promise not to ruin it for next year." She bowed again respectfully.

"Or bother you on your days off anymore." Kirigiri added with a bow.

Naegi tried to give them a sympathetic smile. She really didn't mind the trouble these two tended to cause anymore, and she really did forgive them for setting the house on fire, again. They were her two best friends, more than that, so how could she be mad at them?

Whe she thought about it, it made her smile as she thought back to the random things these two would pull off. Sure, a lot of them resulted in causing trouble, to her annoyance, but they only did so in order to help make Naegi herself happy. Even if she wasn't exactly _like_ these two, she did love them all the same.

For once, she wanted to think of something to help the two of them. For all their hard work, for all they tried to do for her, she wanted to do something for them to return the favor. She knew right away that she was going to end up regretting it the minute she did it, but she felt like she didn't have a choice. With a sigh, she lifted the bowl of ice cream to her face.

"I know I'm gonna regret this..." She muttered closing her eyes.

*_SPLAT!*_

Ikusaba and Kirigiri suddenly looked up as they heard the strange squishing noise. Much to their surprise and shock, Naegi had completely smothered her face in the bowl of ice cream. Pulling the both from her face, the two gaped with their jaws open as they saw Naegi's face covered in melted ice cream, crumbles of brownie falling onto her pink pajamas she was still wearing. She smiled back to the two as if nothing had happened.

"N-Naegi-!" Ikusaba gasped.

"W-What did you-?" Kirigiri tried to speak. Their first brief fear was that Naegi had either lost it, or that she didn't enjoy the dessert they made at all. That was all dashed away with the neck thing Naegi said.

"Oh dear, I'm a mess now." She rolled her eyes, speaking in a sarcastic tone. "I guess now I need a ba-" Naegi froze as she looked back in horror.

The other two girls were already way ahead of her by this point. Not just in the fact they were grinning with excitement with stars in their eyes, but they apparently took the liberty of already disrobing their clothes, leaving the two in only their bras and panties. If their mouths were open, Naegi was sure they would be drooling in anticipation.

She was already terrified of their fingers which flexed with excitement, dangling them in place in a creepy manner. Perhaps she should have waited until it was later in the day towards night, where they would have been more likely to be exhausted and dreary? But she knew that wouldn't prove true. From the sparkles in their eyes, she was sure, that they were _hungry..._

It was too late for regrets.

"Does Naegi need a bath...?" Ikusaba spoke in a shallow breath. Kirigiri was doing the same, breathing heavily from excitement.

"I think we better make sure she's _thoroughly _cleaned!" Kirigiri stated. Before Naegi could react, the two of them grabbed one leg each, pulling her off the stool, landing her on the floor with a soft thud.

"Ow!" Naegi yelped. She could only watch in terror as the two began dragging her across the floors and through the hallway.

"I get her back!" Ikusaba deemed.

"I got her sides!" Kirigiri decided.

"And we both get to scrub her!" Kirigiri paused with Ikusaba as she looked back to her.

"I thought we both get to scrub her?" She asked. Ikusaba looked at her with a sly grin.

"No, I mean _scruuuub_ her..." She grinned. Kirigiri looked at her for a brief moment before grinning in agreement. They both looked back down towards the terrified Naegi with a demonic look in their eyes.

"W-Wa-Wait, o-on s-second thought I-I think I can take a shower-" Naegi tried to stop them. It was futile.

All they did to respond was hasten their pace as they quickly walked towards the stairs, which lead to Naegi's deluxe bathroom.

And all Naegi could do was scream as she was being dragged away. She was sure she would be exhausted when they finished _scrubbing_ her.

It was too late for regrets.

_**"SECURITYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"**_

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A/N: HOOOOOOOOOOOFTA! Another long episode, another long chapter posted. But as always, even if it's a bit later, I posted within a day, so don't go saying I didn't ^^

For those of you who are interested/curious of the "bathing" scene, I am beginning to question/wonder about doing a "romance" romance chapter or one-shot at some point (and I mean as in the lemon variety ya kinkers XP).

Not to seem like the perv myself, I just want to be able to be a professional in all genres of fanfiction. I've done horror, mystery, adventure, action, suspense, drama, etc. Everything except romance-based works. Lemme know if you guys would actually like to see one like that (I would warn though it would be graphic)

Anyway, like and leave a rev if you enjoyed as always ^^ As a reminder, I offer a bonus episode to every 10th reviewer here, but also note there is a 24-hr deadline where you have to respond. Otherwise, I have to give it to the next person so it doesn't cause delays : /

In the mean time, if I don't do the "romance" romance chapter, look forward to the next episode/chapter, where we finally reveal Monokuma's next, mysterious, Motive O_P...


	21. A Shivering Morning

A/N: Ah, it's been awhile. After slowly cutting myself and cutting away all the shame I've come unto after that recent chapter (which is still causing unholy matrimony and mayhem in the recesses of my mind), It's time to get back to some good ol' danganronpa like we used to be at ^^! Enjoy!

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...

"Awwhhnn..." Naegi yawned as she sleepily rubbed her eyes in Kirigiri's bed.

It had been quite an evening for the two girls. After the recent Monokuma announcement earlier that evening, everyone had learned a startling truth: Oogami had been the puppet master's mole this entire time. Originally, her goals and plans were to commit the first murder, and start the Mutual Killing game. What neither of them saw coming, however, was Maizono's scheme. Because of that, she has simply been on watch, reporting any activity from the group.

Of course, Oogami didn't do this without reason. Under the threat of her Dojo being destroyed, Oogami was forced to do the puppet master's bidding for that time. Kirigiri was one of the few who greatly sympathized with her on this. With the puppet master having Naegi within her reach, there was no way she could pull a trick while Naegi's life was on the line.

She knew the internal struggle that was brought with being forced to betray your friends.

Fortunately, the following talk after it went without incident. Everyone had agreed that she was their trusted friend. None of them wanted to deal with another murder incident after. After all the killing and murders that had taken place, none of them wanted to lose even one more beloved friend. The only one who appeared to have some slight quarrel with this was Celestia Ludenberg, but she had showed promise in terms of warning Oogami of her presence.

At the same time, Kirigiri wondered what would happen if Ikusaba was exposed. She knew perfectly well that Ikusaba was a traitor. She had the proof, caught her conversing with the puppet master, and everything. But what she lacked was the proof that came with it.

The other problem is Ikusaba's personality, and her relationship with Naegi. She was Naegi's beloved friend. She even saved her life at one point! There was no way Kirigiri could even attempt to reveal Ikusaba's role as the puppet master's partner unless she found absolute, definitive, proof. And it had to be one that could expose Ikusaba's role entirely.

This didn't mean Kirigiri would completely drop her guard around her. As long as Ikusaba was around Naegi, especially after witnessing absolute proof that she was working with the puppet master, she would always be watching Ikusaba. She promised, that if anything else happened to Naegi from this point on, she would ensure that Ikusaba would suffer for it.

Thus, for now, she was forced to keep a low profile. She needed to buy her time, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Besides, at the time, all she cared about was her current sleep over with Naegi. It was the only excuse she could come up with to hang out with Naegi, given how Ikusaba was always around her. This way, she could simply enjoy Naegi's company with just the two of them.

Which she currently was doing as the two were in their pajamas in her bed. Kirigiri was actually grateful to Naegi for this. She truly hadn't experienced a real sleep over before. While she did just invite her over as an excuse, she did actually enjoy the time they both had together. It wasn't just a matter of keeping her away from ikusaba, at least not entirely.

And it was more relevant that the two girls were readying for bed, now that the Monokuma announcement had finally finished. Without having to worry about anything else, the girls could sleep in peace, positive that things would go just fine for the night.

"Thanks for having a sleep over with me, Naegi." Kirigiri said as she cushioned her own pillow. With the lights out, and the day ending, all that was left was to chat away the next few minutes, and then go to bed.

"Hey, it's no problem Kirigiri, really." Naegi said with a smile. "Sleep overs are a fun thing, so I don't think anyone would mind doing it."

"Well," Kirigiri blushed a bit, shifting her eyes away, "I appreciate it all the same, really."

"Like I said, no problem." Naegi closed her eyes while she said this. "I hope you had fun."

"Yeah...I think I did." Kirigiri grinned looking at the door.

Earlier during the evening, with the ongoing rivalry Ikusaba and Kirigiri have been having, Ikusaba couldn't bring herself to leave Naegi alone with Kirigiri for the whole night. This was both, due to the reason Kirigiri knew Ikusaba's secret, and how she couldn't trust her with Naegi. Knowing her, she would've tried telling Naegi at any moment that she left them alone.

Instead, however, she was met with a night of utter torment. During Kirigiri's sleepover, she took the liberty of massaging Naegi's back. As fate managed to work, the noises and sounds coming from Kirigiri's room proved a little too much for the despair-filled soldier. What started as a simple eavesdrop-related mission, ended up with the proud soldier curling into a little ball against the door in shame.

Only to make matters worse, this was done intentionally by Kirigiri's planning. She had a pretty good grasp on the ideals of fate. It worked to her advantage. Even though, at the same time, it was also the thing keeping her from exposing Ikusaba's secret entirely. Yet, she still had to do what she could, to even give Naegi an inkling of the truth.

"Hey...Naegi?" Kirigiri spoke up, turning her head towards Naegi.

"Yeah?" Naegi muttered sleepily, her eyes still closed.

"Do you..." Kirigiri tried to think of the best way to word this. She couldn't just say something like "hey, Ikusaba's a traitor, did you know that?" right in front of Naegi. "How have you been with Ikusaba?"

Naegi opened her eyes slightly, turning to face Kirigiri with her head still on the pillow. "Huh?"

"W-Well, you know. I mean... You're not worried she might betray you or something, right?" Kirigiri asked. Just from the look in Naegi's eyes, Kirigiri could tell she was slightly taken back by this. She had to be careful how she proceeded forward.

"W-What do you mean? I know she won't betray me!" Naegi said in an assured voice. "I mean, she saved my life at one point, remember? Why would you-!"

"I know, I know, it's okay." Kirigiri gave her a small smile, patting the side of Naegi's head. "I'm just asking for the sake of it."

"Well...why do you wanna know? Is something bothering you?" Naegi asked curiously.

Of course there was something bothering Kirigiri about Ikusaba. Everything about her did! Having eavesdropped on her conversation, how she's constantly hanging around Naegi, both of them knowing that they're on one another, everything. And as if only to irritate Kirigiri more, she was well aware of the fact that she couldn't reveal her secret to anyone else at this time. If she let even the slightest hint out that Ikusaba was working for Monokuma, Monokuma himself would easily take matters into his own paws.

With Ikusaba constantly around Naegi, she was more than capable of ending Naegi's life on a single order. Of course, there wasn't any guarantee that she would. Kirigiri knew she had a strange liking to Naegi herself, but she wasn't willing to gamble that and risk telling someone Ikusaba's secret while Naegi's life was on the line.

Naegi already lost her life once- that tore Kirigiri apart. If she lost Naegi a second time, then she would lose it.

"N-No...I'm fine." She lied with a smile. "I just want to make sure she hasn't done anything weird around you. I wouldn't want you to go through what you did the last two times."

Naegi smiled as she closed her eyes again. "Well thanks then." She muttered softly. "But she's been fine, really. She's been really kind to me and everything."

"That's..." With Naegi's eyes closed, Kirigiri couldn't help but frown. "T-Then that's good. I'm glad you trust her, Naegi."

"Yeah...thanks..." Naegi muttered quieter. She was getting closer to falling into dreamland. "Hey, Kirigiri?"

"Yes, Naegi?"

"Awwwhhhn..." Naegi rubbed her eyes slightly as she yawned. "W-What do you plan on doing...hawwwnnn...when you get out of here first?" She asked with a smile.

That actually was a good question. Kirigiri couldn't help but take a moment to decide.

"Huh...I uhh...I really haven't thought of it." Kirigiri admitted. "I guess umm...W-Well what would you do first?" She asked. She hated to admit it, but she couldn't think of anything at the moment.

"Well, first thing eh'd do..." Naegi's words slurred as she continued to fall deeper into sleep. "Is bring the jacket to Hagakure's mother...like I promised. And thaaawwn..." She yawned again. "I mean then... I'd to everyone's families who died. I'd let them know how great they were. And what cherished friends...they were...Kuwata's...Maiz-Maizono's... Fu-Fujisaki's...a-and Hagakure's..." Naegi teared slightly as she hiccupped.

"Naegi..." Kirigiri frowned slightly as she watched Naegi teared up.

Most of the friends she's come across, she had some form of direct relationship to before their end. Even after considering how they betrayed her, she would still take on that pain with her, and continue to see them remembered as good people. It took a lot more strength for someone to remember others for who they were, not what they became.

At least that's what Kirigiri believed.

"Naegi, come here." Kirigiri said softly. Still lying in bed with one another, Kirigiri embraced Naegi in a warm hug, gently patting Naegi's head. "It's ok, it's ok."

"Hnngh..." Naegi hiccupped, but had already started to calm down.

"That really is thoughtful of you, you know." Kirigiri complimented. "You keep thinking of the good things about people, but never the bad things. It's what I like about you, you know. And I actually like that idea! Why don't I come with you when we do?"

"Hnh...t-thanks..." Naegi closed her eyes tightly.

Kirigiri bit her lip slightly. As always, Kirigiri wasn't easy with this at all. It wasn't just her distrust with Ikusaba that concerned her. What really concerned her was her growing relationship with Naegi. Despite not knowing the full circumstances, or even why, she was positive Ikusaba was trying to get close to her.

But for what purpose is what baffled Kirigiri. Was she trying to recruit Naegi? Get her to join Ikusaba and the puppet master? Or was she purposely trying to pull her away from Kirigiri for some strange reason? Or perhaps she simply loved Naegi herself, which was one factor Kirigiri didn't find too farfetched. If the latter was the case, however, then Kirigiri couldn't allow it.

She had a deep love for Naegi due to her history in the past. A history Naegi herself couldn't even remember, but one Kirigiri always held dear to her heart. One that she couldn't reveal to Naegi until the time was right, whenever that could possibly be while within this hostile environment. And it was one she couldn't keep bottled up forever, especially if Ikusaba had the same feelings towards Naegi.

She had to act, and fast. She had to submit her confession here and now of all places while the two of them were still alone. Her heart wrenched with the idea of it, and she couldn't even keep her eyes from shutting due to sheer fright. But it had to be now.

"N-Naegi..." Kirigiri muttered silently. Her heart raced each second she same closer to her secret. "I-I...I-I have something to t-tell you..." She gulped nervously. She shut her eyes tighter as her nerves heightened.

Now, or never.

"NaegiIloveyou!" She quickly blurted out, small amounts of sweat dripping from the side of her head. She partly hated herself for saying something so suddenly. She did love Naegi, of course, but she would have preferred revealing this fact in a more idea timing or situation.

For once in her life, she was fearful. She had no idea how Naegi would react to such a confession. She couldn't even stand to open her eyes for awhile! Throughout all the training she has ever been through, all the scenarios she has encountered, not one has terrified her like the present one has. With each second of silence she heard, the tension only grew more and more in her heart.

Obviously Naegi would be taken back by such a confession, especially from another girl. Kirigiri didn't care about the fact that it might have been too soon to reveal such a feeling; she couldn't let Naegi be drawn in to Ikusaba's world if she confessed the same thing. Even if it only brought a temporary pause, she needed Naegi to hesitate from any and all offers that Ikusaba made to her.

It wasn't to say that her feelings for Naegi were false at the time. She just needed to give Naegi a piece of mind, something to think about while hanging out with Ikusaba. She knew she couldn't be with her forever around the school, but as long as she could give Naegi reason to doubt, or even stall her from anything Ikusaba asked, that was good enough for her. To keep her from doing anything Ikusaba asked, that could put Naegi's life at risk, was all she needed.

As long as she knew that Naegi would think things through before accepting anything from Ikusaba, Kirigiri could feel a little more better on the inside. The only thing that did question Kirigiri, was how long Naegi could remain silent for. It was eating away inside her, but Kirigiri refused to utter a single word until Naegi said something.

The reaction she had heard, however, was not the one she was expecting, or much less hoping.

"...Naegi?" Kirigiri muttered again, opening one eye.

"Zzz..." It was the classical scenario, but one not surprising from Kirigiri.

With all the young girl had faced throughout the pressing days, Naegi was found asleep and peaceful, resting at Kirigiri's bedside. Kirigiri could only sigh mentally at this, but she didn't really care at the moment. She just enjoyed the sight of seeing Naegi peacefully asleep.

Part of her was actually glad that Naegi had fallen asleep before she confessed as she did. With all she's gone through, it was only to be expected that Naegi would fall asleep with ease. She's just surprised by the timing of said event. Like she knew from earlier, fate worked in mysterious ways.

For once, she questioned if it was working against or with her this time. Maybe it was too soon for her to tell Naegi by this point? Thinking about it, she shrugged to herself, deciding it was okay either way. She hasn't truly hung out with Naegi to form a bond, but it still left the chance that Ikusaba would swoop in and steal her from Kirigiri before she knew it.

Another factor that confused Kirigiri were her feelings for Naegi, and her interactions with Ikusaba. Was she truly trying to protect Naegi from Ikusaba, or was she secretly jealous of her relationship she was trying to have with Naegi? It was a mystery even to Kirigiri herself. She wanted to say she was just being professional, but with her feelings, she knew she couldn't judge for herself.

With a sigh, she just smiled to Naegi, saying one thing she didn't care if Naegi heard or not.

"Good night Naegi. Have a good dream." She wished peacefully, closing her eyes. Despite Ikusaba being on the other side of the door, she decided it was safe to sleep. She wouldn't try anything that could involve killing Kirigiri herself, especially not while Naegi was sharing the same bed as her. This was of course providing if Ikusaba was still there to begin with.

Which she was.

And sadly, slumped across the door with her back to it, partly awake. Her dreary eyes were losing the will to stay open, being overcome with sleep's sweet embrace. Yet her heart ached slight. She heard Kirigiri's confession, and, while not being as enlightened as Kirigiri on the other's feelings for Naegi, she did have some inkling of the truth.

Only now, this would further complicate things. She figured she was only great, even best friends with Naegi. Before during their school life together, she never once noticed that Kirigiri had similar feelings for Naegi as well. Then again, she only grew her own feelings for Naegi over the course of the school year, so she probably wasn't paying much attention anyway.

She loved Naegi herself. That much was certain with herself. What she couldn't comprehend was why Kirigiri would have feelings for her too. She couldn't risk having this love rivalry with Naegi, at least not while Naegi was out in the open. She was willing to fight for Naegi's love, don't get the wrong idea. What bothered her though is the ace Kirigiri held over her in terms of knowing Ikusaba's identity and orle.

Granted, she wouldn't try doing anything while Ikusaba herself was around Naegi, but it was only a matter of time. Ikusaba had no way of knowing at the time about what she would do if her partner suddenly ordered her to attack, or even kill, Naegi. Her mission was the true and most important decision, she knew, but she doubted that she would be able to overcome her feelings to fulfill it.

As long as Naegi was safe, that was all she cared about. But as to how long she would be safe, was something Ikusaba wasn't certain of. All she could do was close her eyes for sleep, and await whatever plan her partner had them her the very next day.

...

...

...

_"You rat!" The older girl shouted, pushing Naegi against the locker. _

_"Ah!" Naegi eked, dropping her belongings as she was shoved aside. _

_It was one of those moments again in Hopes Peak Academy. Once again, Naegi found herself being bullied by one of the several typical bullies that bossed her around every now and then. This time consisting of a couple of thugs she had barely recognized, all she knew is that they were in typical Hopes Peak uniform, much like her._

_Unlike her usual schedule of getting bullied by at least one bully a week, this time she had the special opportunity of getting bullied by several students at once. Usually, they always kept to themselves, not wanting to make a scene by having multiple people bullying her at once. It was usually only a minor bullying anyway, such as doing their homework for them or some other thing._

_On an even more notable piece of information, there was something a little too convenient about the current situation. Compared to all her other hours of school, ever since she made several friends days ago, they would always walk together through the hallways. Even if it was just one of her friends, she would more easily avoid the bullying that had abused her all this time._

_However, there was only one hour through the day where none of her friends had traveled with her. While some of her regular bullies discovered this fact, they always came alone, or at least with one other person, in case Naegi's new friends would show up again. This time around though, several of her bullies gathered around for this occasion. _

_For this many of her regular bullies to gather all at once, Naegi couldn't help but find the timing too convenient._

_This time around, however, she found herself being bullied by several students at once, and not for the sake of getting their homework done at the same time. Whatever the ordeal consisted of, this time around she was being bullied for an entirely different reason. And the seriousness of it was even more apparent as her assaulters grabbed her by the throat._

_"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" They shouted in her face. Their grip wasn't enough to strangle her entirely, but it was still enough to choke her to the point of coughing._

_"Acckckk-heth...I-Ih don't know wh-acck...what you're talking about!" She squirmed in her assaulter's grip, trying to pry herself free from their strong grasp. _

_"Bullshit!" The bully next to the one currently squeezing her yelled. "You mind telling me where the fuck the principal found out about our little agreement?"_

_The agreement was far less than what it sounded. It was basically a one-way street for her; she would do the homework her bullies asked her to do, and they wouldn't beat her up. _

_'I-I don't know..." Naegi continued to squirm. She was finding it harder to breath as the grip around her neck tightened._

_"Don't fucking lie to us!" The first one yelled again. "We have detention for the next two weeks because of this! And we for sure didn't squeal to him."_

_"I-I'm not!" Naegi cried raspy "I-It must have been someone else!" _

_"Oh, right, THAT makes perfect sense!" They replied in a sarcastic tone. "Why the fuck would one of us expose ourselves?! You're the only one to benefit from this!" _

_"B-But I didn't-!"_

_*WHAM!*_

_"Ouughhhthh!" _

_Naegi coughed out a mouthful of saliva as the fist was thrust into her gut. Her captor dropped her to the ground, backing away as Naegi's drool ran off the side of her mouth. She was clenching her stomach in pain, coughing out the minor amount of stomach acid that rushed to her throat as a result. She was too stunned from the impact to lift her head up as her attackers cracked their knuckles together._

_"Maybe we need to remind ya why we had this agreement." She teased, pulling her by the hair so her head was lifted up. _

_Naegi was in too much pain to pay attention to her threats, or the tears on the side of her own face. She only responded by repeating her previous claims while clenching her eyes shut. _

_"I-I didn't do it..." She squealed once more._

_"Yeah, well I'm officially passed the point of giving a fuck anyway." She grinned. In one swift pull, she pulled her arm back as she prepared to deliver another swift, painful, strike, aimed straight for Naegi's face. Naegi could barely do anything, other than await what she already expected to experience._

_*CRACKLE!*_

_"AWWW FUCK!" The bully yelled in pain as they were thrown back, letting go of Naegi's hair. Feeling something was amiss from the current scenario, Naegi weakly opened her eyes. What she saw surprised her. _

_Standing in front of her was her best friend, Kirigiri. Perhaps best wasn't the perfect way to pronounce their current relationship, but as far as Naegi could remember, she was Naegi's first friend since coming here, even before anyone else knew Naegi. _

_From what little Naegi could see, Kirigiri appeared to be defending her, standing in front of her firmly with her arms thoroughly crossed. As always, compared to the rest of the female students, she was the only female student who wore a red tie at all times, as well as a pair of gloves. _

_Looking to her previous assaulters, one of them were apparently back against one of the other lockers, with the second one standing her ground, glaring at Kirigiri. The one who was backed against a locker really surprised Naegi. She appeared to her arm dislocated from her shoulder, which would be easier to tell if Naegi was more knowledgeable about the human body. _

_"The fucks your problem?!" The girl against the locker yelled, holding their shoulder in pain._

_"You wanna die, bitch?!" The other one yelled. Simply hearing Kirigiri cracking her own knuckles made the other one shake._

_"You want to end up like your friend and lose a shoulder?" Kirigiri threatened back. "Or perhaps you'd prefer I break both your shoulders, then report to my father about your constant harassment?" The mention of this was enough to make the first one squeamish. _

_"Ah fuck! She's the principle's girl!" She realized. The other one helped her wobbly to her feet. Both girls knew to fear her now, for multiple reasons. _

_"Points to the girl who punched Naegi." Kirigiri cracked her knuckles again. "Now, do you want to go to round two, or do you want to call it quits now? Honestly, I could go either way." She smirked. The other two girls could only growl as the slumped through the hallways, trying to run. _

_It was one thing to mess with the Super High School Level Sleuth but it was entirely something else to mess with that AND the principle's daughter at the same time. They could handle one or the other, but never both._

_Waiting until the two were fully out of her sight, Kirigiri sighed before smiling. She was glad her intuition warned her about a pressing matter, but was surprised to see something like this play out. Turning around again, she smiled as she saw her friend on the ground, glad Naegi was alright to some degree. _

_She still appeared to be wreathed in pain, holding her stomach as if it would spill open at any second. Kneeling down quickly, she gently stroked Naegi's shoulder soothingly. _

_"Are you okay?" She asked slightly concerned. It was already obvious that Naegi wasn't okay, seeing how pained she was, but she just wanted to know how serious of a case it might have been. She felt partially relieved as she saw Naegi slowly nodding her head. _

_"Y-Yeah...I-I'm f-leeggthh!" Naegi coughed out again, more of her saliva dripping from her mouth as she coughed. Kirigiri backed away briefly, patting her friend's back once she was finished coughing. _

_"You don't seem find to me." Kirigiri stated. _

_With a steady ease, she gently pulled Naegi's right arm, throwing it over her shoulder. With Naegi nodding to her in understanding, the two gently rose to their feet, helping Naegi maintain balance as she stood. From the wobbliness in Naegi's standing, she could tell she was struggling enough just to stand. It would be awhile before Naegi was perfectly fine. _

_"You really took a hit it seems." Kirigiri commented. She continued to smile for her friend's sake. "I'm going to have a talk with my father about this. I'll get you pulled from your regular schedule so you have similar classes with the rest of your friends. No one will bother you again then." She promised._

_"N-No, really. It's ok." Naegi shook her head. "Y-You don't have to g-heekth..." She coughed once more, still holding her stomach with her other arm. _

_"It's alright, really. You shouldn't have to go through that stuff on a daily basis." Kirigiri took the initiative as she began slowly walking her friend down the hallway. "You keep pushing yourself just to try and fit in, but you make it harder for yourself then." She added. _

_"I'm..." Naegi lowered her head as she frowned. "I'm just trying to keep from being a burden." She teared slightly. Kirigiri smiled at her friend, gently wiping the tear from her eye a bit._

_That's what she liked most about Naegi. She had a good heart, even to those who would cause problems for her. She always tried to prove positive, even in the worst case scenarios, and tried to keep everyone else from feeling the same way she did. It was truly noble. _

_"You're only burdening yourself with that thinking." Kirigiri replied. "Just don't worry about what others think and be yourself for the time being, ok?" Naegi continued to frown. _

_Obviously, she didn't agree with this, but she felt that Kirigiri had a point. If she didn't agree to this, it would just cause more problems for her in the future, and more trouble for her friends who would just try to help her later on. She had to stop being a burden at some point, but if what Kirigiri said was true, she had to start with herself. _

_"Fine...I-I'll try the class thing out then." Naegi still frowned slightly. _

_"Hey, don't worry. I'll even place us in some of the same to keep you company." Kirigiri said, trying to cheer her up. "You didn't do anything wrong, alright?"_

_"A-Alright."_

_Kirigiri nodded with a smile. "Good. Now let's get you to the Nurse's Office. There's a student there who's really, super, nice!" She encouraged. "Her name's MIkan." Naegi looked at her curiously._

_"You mean as in Tsumiki? I think I heard of her before." _

_"Yeah. She's a great nurse, trust me. Juuuuust be a little careful around her." Kirigiri paused as she scratched her cheek. "She has a bit of an abusive history, so she might be a little too sensitive..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_***Diiing dooong...***_

_***Diiiing doooong...***_

_**"Eh hem, may I have your attention please? Good morning, everyone! The time is now 7 A.M. Let's have ourselves another beautiful day!"**_

*snrrrk*

"Mmh..." Ikusaba groaned slightly as she stirred.

With the morning announcement loud and clear for her in the hallway, it was almost impossible to ignore. She moaned a bit as she rubbed her eyes awake. She couldn't tell why exactly, but she was slightly cold for some strange reason. It wasn't too surprising though when she thought about it. After all, she did spend the night out in the hallway without any blankets.

The suddenness of this realization brought her to being fully awake. With the Monokuma announcement that went off, she was assured that the Kirigiri and Naegi would be getting ready for the day. A yawn and a stretch later, she found herself face-to-face with the door. Knowing her sister, she would have specially made sure that the door was unlocked in cases of emergencies.

With a slow and gentle push, Ikusaba pushed the door as she turned the doorknob. Peeking inside, she couldn't help but feel a strange draft as she opened the door. Much like she had experienced upon waking up, it had an unsettling chill to everything. She couldn't help but hug herself as she tried to warm herself up.

If she was fully awake, she would have noticed something rather strange.

If she had remembered her sister had a plan the night before, she wouldn't have screamed upon looking at what she found. Inside of Kirigiri's bedroom, wrapped in each others arms, Naegi and Kirigiri lied...in their undergarments. There were no pajamas, there were no nighties, just the two of them, in their bras and panties.

And that wasn't the worst of it! At least not to Ikusaba. What truly made the situation worse for the two was the sight of them, in bed together, in each others arms. Just seeing them like that, safe and secured in one another's arms…it made her light headed. Disoriented. But being the professional she was, she managed to maintain the rising shriek of horror rising from her throat.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Or not.

The scream was more than enough to awaken the two slumbering girls, bolting up out of beds with a startle.

"Ah!" Naegi shrieked, not even knowing what was wrong. "What?! What?!" She quickly raced her head back and forth.

It only took but a moment to realize the odd one out of the group who wasn't with them the previous night. It was a slight surprise to see her friend suddenly in Kirigiri's room, but what surprised her even more, was her choice of clothing. It seemed rather unlike for the Super High School Level Mercenary.

"Umm…Ikusaba?" Naegi spoke up, eyeing her strangely. "Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" As she asked this, Naegi couldn't help but hold herself at the sudden chill.

"Huh?" Ikusaba had a feeling of what she meant, but she couldn't say for certain. Looking down at herself, Ikusaba's face turned beat red at the realization. Much like Kirigiri and Naegi themselves, Ikusaba was only dressed in her undergarments, consisting of a lacy black panty and bra. "Ah!" She shrieked, covering her parts tightly.

Even though she was already covered, nothing was more precious to a woman than keeping their "Particular" areas clothed.

"What the heck are you-?" Kirigiri began to ask, slowly looking around.

Upon examining the contents of the room, Kirigiri could not believe the sights that took hold of her. Seeing Naegi, in a light-pink bra and panty, and then herself, in a light violet bra and panty. Those were her undergarments, of course, but the problem that remained was why they were like this to begin with.

Not only that, but there was an unfamiliar chill within the room that she couldn't describe. Sure, Ikusaba was there with them, so being around her always gave her the chills, but she was referring to a more literal, physical, chill in the room. One that actually shook her with an uncomfortableness as her eyes explored around the room.

What was going on?

"N-Naegi…?" Kirigiri mumbled with a slight blush. Turning back towards Kirigiri, it only took one look for her to realize the idea of what the problem was. Like the previous two did, Naegi took one look down at herself before shrieking in fear.

"Ahhhhh!" She screamed covering herself. "What the heck's going on here? And where are my clothes!?" She cried out.

"R-Relax, Naegi," Kirigiri tried to calm down, "y-you can just borrow one of my outfits and-!" Kirigiri said as she worked her way over to the dresser.

It took her awhile to comprehend everything and anything of what was going on as she walked towards the dresser. First their clothes were missing, and, after some more thorough investigation, she realized all of her blankets and bedsheets were missing to. But that wasn't even the most shocking piece of information.

Just seconds after opening her dresser did she truly realize how bad their current situation was. There wasn't just a lack of clothing and blankets in her room, anything that could have been used to cover themselves in any manner of speaking, was gone. There was absolutely nothing inside her dresser, save for additional undergarments.

There were no blankets, there were no clothes, and there was nothing to cover each other. Everything that could have been used to cover each other and prevent other people from eyeing them was now gone. She didn't even have socks in her drawers anymore!

"What the hell?" Kirigiri muttered as she checked. A sudden thought just hit her as she turned back to Naegi. "Hey, Naegi? Can you check the bathroom out for me?"

"Bathroom?" Naegi blinked in confusion at this.

"Just… Check it out for me for a minute, will you?" She requested. Naegi wasn't as informative as Kirigiri was, but she knew it must have been important to her in some way. Waiting until Naegi was in the bathroom for a brief moment, Kirigiri glared back to Ikusaba. "What the hell!" She muttered quietly.

"What?" Ikusaba questioned raising her brow. She maintained her stance as Kirigiri marched her way up to her.

"What kind of freaking plan is this?!" She muttered. "You just go and raid us of our clothing?!" Now Ikusaba was returning the glare.

"Hey, don't pin this on me!" She quickly muttered back. "I had nothing to do with this! And why would I try to steal your clothes WHILE you're both in here?! I wouldn't do anything in front of Naegi!"

"Any what?" Naegi asked returning to the bathroom.

"Oh!" Ikusaba replied, she and Kirigiri quickly smiling back to her. "She was just wondering w-what I was doing here and what happened."

"Yeah, what are you doing here anyway?" Naegi asked curiously, getting closer.

"Oh, n-nothing." She lied. "I-I just woke up this morning, a-and my clothes and stuff were gone." She said. She tapped her chin curiously as she looked up into thought. "I didn't want to be seen like this, s-so I thought I'd come by a-and ask for clothes… or something." She explained.

"You don't have any clothes either?" Kirigiri asked. She was mildly surprised by this, even if it was just a lie on her part.

"N-No." Ikusaba replied calmly. "I mean, I was surprised when I saw the two of you…like this… but I didn't realize I was like this either until you two pointed it out."

"So what the heck's going on here then?" Naegi asked looking to Kirigiri. "Does this have anything to do with Monokuma's newest motive?"

Kirigiri took a moment to process this. It was actually a good point when she thought of it, but at the same time, it didn't make sense. So what if he took some of their clothing and made it slightly chilly for the group? It wasn't anything worth killing anyone over.

Then again, that was what she thought last time too. In the game Two Lies and a Truth, it seemed ridiculous to even think that a murder could occur. With the idea that the lies were actually something more hopeful than the truths were, it was believed that no one took them seriously.

Yet, Hagakure believed it enough, thinking if he pulled off the perfect murder that it would save everyone.

It wasn't his fault either, that's what everyone agreed upon. All he was trying to do was save everyone else at the time, and everyone perfectly understood that, and even forgave him for what he did. But the fact still remained, that he killed someone for what he believed in, so whose to say that another murder may or may not occur?

"I don't know to be honest." Kirigiri admitted. "It's the only reason behind all this, but it doesn't make sense."

"Yeah!" Ikusaba agreed with a nod. "I mean what's the point of taking away our clothes and such? I like keeping myself covered and all but it doesn't make sense to me. I mean why would I kill someone over clothes?"

"That reminds me Naegi, did you check the bathroom like I asked?"

"Huh? Umm yeah." Naegi replied witha nod. "But why exactly was it so important? There wasn't anything in there."

"There wasn't _anything_ in there?" Kirigiri asked to be sure.

"Y-Yeah…" Naegi hesitated, understanding what she was getting at. "There wasn't anything. No soaps, no towels, nothin'."

"And you're sure there weren't any towels?" Kirigiri rubbed her chin.

"Do you think the main idea was just to keep us from getting any clothes or something?" Naegi wondered.

"Nah, that's too simple." Ikusaba disagreed. "I mean, his last plan involved playing some game and knocking us out for several days. There isn't much going on for him to just take our clothes away."

"Huh…" Naegi rubbed her chin as she tried to think. She was right about this; when it came to Monokuma his plans were a lot more complicated than they seemed. He had to have some sort of idea to go along with this if it meant driving the students to murder. She just had to think. "W-Well…What if-"

"_Ahhhhhhhhhhh_!" A voice was heard shouting in fear. The three girls nearly jumped simultaneously as they looked back to the door, realizing it was still open.

"Was that Asahina?" Ikusaba asked, recognizing the voice.

"I get the feeling this problem extends beyond just simple lack of clothing." Kirigiri commented. "We better hurry on to the lunchroom too. That was the plan after all."

"Let's go then." Ikusaba nodded as the two began heading for the door.

"Wait!" Naegi yelled out as she ran back towards the bed. Looking back, the two watched as they came back with two pillows in her arms. "We should at least keep ourselves somewhat covered right?" She said, offering them both a pillow.

Kirigiri smiled mentally, in awe at Naegi's kindness. "But what about you Naegi?" Naegi lowered her head, turning away with a blush.

"Y-Yeah…I umm… D-Don't have as much to cover…" She muttered.

Shifting their eyes down, both Ikusaba and Kirigiri blushed slightly as they understood what she meant. There was a slight size different between the several girls when it came to bust. While both Ikusaba and Kirigiri both had something to conceal, Naegi, sadly, didn't have much to show for it in the size department.

While she at least wasn't exactly "lacking" in anything, her breasts weren't as glorious as Kirigiri's and Ikusaba's to draw attention away. In truth, Naegi couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed by this fact.

"T-That's not true!" Ikusaba tried cheerin g her up with a sympathetic smile. "I-I mean of course you have enough to hide!" She encouraged. It was a weird thought, trying to encourage a girl that her breasts were large enough to hide. Even if she did love her.

"Y-Yeah!" Kirigiri tried encouraging as well. "All girls do! Y-You should cover yourself up too!"

"I appreciate the sentiment... I think... " Naegi muttered, lowering her head in more shame.

"R-Really!" Ikusaba encouraged again. "I-I know! Here!" Ikusaba quickly moved her way in front of Naegi and turned around. In one swift movement, she had Naegi hanging on to her back, arms around her neck and legs being supported by Ikusaba's own arms. At the same time, she even picked up pillow Naegi had offered her. "There, see? This way, I can keep myself covered, and you can keep covered too!" It was barely a challenge to carry the small girl anyway, given her light weight.

Naegi shifted around a bit to get in a more comfortable position to hang on, then smiled. "Hey yeah, this works out just fine." She smiled to Kirigiri. "Now we can all be covered! Isn't that great, Kirigiri?"

"Of course...it is...Naegi..." Kirigiri replied, gritting her as she spoke.

She hated her. She absolutely hated Ikusaba at this point with every fiber of her being. She was squeezing her fingers behind her back due to the sheer rage that was boiling up inside of her from this.

It was one thing to quickly butt in and take Naegi's side like this before Kirigiri could react. It was a second thing to see Ikusaba smirking at her victoriously as the two looked at her. With Naegi safely behind Ikusaba's back, her head behind her head, Ikusaba had no worry or fear from the idea of Naegi seeing her expression as she faced Kirigiri.

But if there was one thing, just ONE thing she couldn't stand out of all of this, it was that Ikusaba had her hands, placed firmly against Naegi's butt. With the solid excuse that she was just lifting up Naegi up on her back, she could _feel_ around and grip around Naegi as much as she wanted. To make matters even worse for her, she also knew that, while Naegi's weren't as prominent as the others, Ikusaba could joyously feel Naegi's breasts pressed against her back like this.

And Ikusaba knew this perfectly well.

There was only one thing screaming in Kirigiri's mind at this point.

_"This bitch needs to die!" _

...

...

...

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Owada yelped, covering his eyes with his arms while pinching together his bleeding nose.

The morning began in a way no one in the group could ever expect. Picture their surprise when all of them woke up this morning, and discovered all their clothes were gone, save for their underwear, and to some, panties? Now picture their surprise when they found out, that not only had their clothes gone missing as well as their blankets or anything else they could have used as an alternative to cover themselves up with?

For the boys, like most guys, they weren't too worried about this. After all, all they had to worry about were their boxers being present. However, what neither Yamada or Owada, the few last remaining men within this facility, couldn't handle, was the _sight. _

It was a sight nearly all men wished to see, but some of whom could only dream of seeing. A sight that was so glorious to behold, that once you saw it, your life was complete. Perhaps it wasn't as grand for the victim of this "sight", but there was little that could help that. After all, having the one thing all men dreamed of was only natural. It was now out of the few times in Asahina's life that she regretted this feature of her body.

Her. Huge. Breasts.

It was a miracle to occur for the two men who gazed upon them in shock. Neither of them had ever expected such a sight to behold in their life, nor could either of them handle it.

For Owada, it was just a simple nose bleed upon seeing a girl like Asahina wandering into the lunchroom with only her bra and panties. A reaction like this could be considered normal to the average person, but for a man-of-honor like him to go through with this, it was nothing but disgraceful. Especially to a woman like Asahina while she was still in front of him.

But for Yamada, words could not describe.

He could not describe the joyous feeling of seeing such a spectacular sight right in front of him. To see the, as he right-at-that-moment titled, boob-inflated mermaid in front of him like that? It was too much on the poor geek's mind. Losing nearly a full gallon of blood, or what felt like it, he passed out in a state of heaven and pure joy.

And poor...Poor, poor Asahina, was left on her own. On a brighter side, she could take heart to the idea that people thought she was pretty or gorgeous to look at, but with her lack of clothing, such a factor made it hard to do.

After discovering this morning that her close went missing, she naturally panicked. She tried to make the best of the situation and look for alternative means of clothes to wear around the school. Her first thought was just to try and use a blanket or towel if she could find one around here, but unfortunately, she had no success.

Afterwards, while trying to sneak her way towards it, she thought there might be something that could save her dignity within the kitchen area. If there was even a single towel, or apron, that could be used to cover any part of herself, she would've taken it gladly. Unfortunately, however, like all her past searches, this only ended with failure, as there wasn't even a single towel, nor apron, within the confines of the kitchen.

Only to make matters worse for the breasted girl, she had the unfortunate timing of walking out just as both Yamada and Owada had entered the lunchroom. They too, were looking for a means to find clothing, but after failing for some time, they simply decided to meet at the lunchroom with the rest, in case anything came up with the others.

Which is why, from that point, we found ourselves where we were now. With Owada, wearing only his black and white striped boxers, pinching his nose while covering his eyes in shame, Asahina, only with a shameless blue bra and panties, covering her breasts and lower region in shame and with tears in her eyes and a red blush, and Yamada, having no shame of wearing his Mochi Mochi Princess-themed boxers, casually passed out on the floor after witnessing heaven.

"W-Would someone tell me what the hell's going on here?" Owada asked, keeping himself focused away from Asahina with a blush.

"I-I don't know! All my clothes and blankets were gone when I woke up!" Asahina cried.

"Yeah, but dude, seriously, what the fuck?! It's one thing to take all our clothes, but blankets and shit too?" Owada yelled out loud. "What the fuck Monokuma!?"

"And why did he take our towels too?" Asahina asked confused. "I mean blankets and all are one thing, but towels too? I couldn't even take a shower this morning!"

"Asahina!" Oogami could be heard shouting. Looking towards the entrance, as shocking as it might seem, Owada didn't have an issue or worry about a nose bleed.

With a fat green bra that covered her muscle-massed breasts, and, a part which almost made him throw up, a black thong, there was not much different from her appearance. This was given with the idea that most of her clothes displayed her muscles anyway. And being the warrior that she was, she had no issue with her lack of clothing, though that didn't keep her from being confused and outraged, of course.

"Are you alright?" Oogami asked worriedly, having heard the scream. Asahina nodded.

"Y-Yeah, I was just startled and surprised for a minute." She replied. Oogami turned her rage towards Owada.

"How dare you assault Asahina like this!" She roared.

"Hey, give me a freaking break!" Owada yelled back. "She was like this when I got here! I didn't even touch her!"

"Nnngh...w-what?" Yamada muttered, having regained consciousness. It only took the sight of the hate-filled demon, one that was only partially dressed at that, for him to panic. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" It wasn't just the severe rage Sakura was giving off that got to him. It was also the severe lack of clothing, as opposed to Asahina, and seeing her wearing a thong, that made him shrivel. He was out like a light again after several seconds, but for different reasons this time.

And Sakura felt slightly ashamed of such a fact. "Am I really that hard to look at like this?" Her warrior strength would never show it, but she was slightly crying on the inside.

"N-No, Sakura, it's not that!" Asahina gave her a sympathetic smile. "J-Just ignore him, he's being an idiot."

"There's a factor we can all agree on." Celes could be heard saying as she walked in. It didn't matter if he was dead (entirely) at this point, or stuck in a coma. The sound of Celes' "angelic voice" was all he needed to awaken.

"Ah!" Yamada squealed in joy at the sound. "That's right! My dear sweet Celesti-!" And all was for naught.

On a rather curious note, Celes took the opportunity to show her creative side, at least compared to everyone else. Like many of the others, she awoke this morning to discover that her own clothing, save for garments, were as well, missing. And like they others, she came to realize that she was also missing her towels and blankets.

Knowing that they had a meeting to attend that morning, she decided to show up along with the rest, not bothering to use the "I don't have any available clothes" line as an excuse. To compensate for this, however, she took the initiative to clothe herself.

To preform this said feat, she did something rather inventive; by using a pair of scissors she had, as a memento of Genocider Shou, she cut apart her own pillow, cutting out the edges and the sides, and pulled out the stuffing. While it only managed to conceal down to her bellybutton, doing nothing to hide her panties, it did at least make a nice substitute shirt while their clothes were missing.

The only other thing different about her appearance in addition to this, was her hair. With her ribbons being thoroughly removed, it could easily be assumed that she didn't have anything to keep her hair up anymore. As much as she despised the idea, she had no choice but to comb it down once more. Seeing how it stretched down to her waist in the back, it was no surprise that she'd rather keep her hair in curls.

"It would appear I wasn't the only one missing clothes this morning." She commented with a usual smile.

"Accccckkkkkk-!" Yamada cried, passing out once more.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I think his dreams just died..." Owada replied scratching his head. "Look, does anyone know what the hell's going on?"

"And preferably, someone with an answer." Kirigiri added. Looking towards the door once more, the rest saw as Ikusaba and Kirigiri made their way through, Ikusaba carrying Naegi on her back.

"What is the purpose of those pillows?" Celes asked curiously.

"Duh, to cover ourselves up." Ikusaba replied. "We needed at least _something _to cover ourselves up." The sight of the two girls with pillows irritated Asahina.

"Oof! I should've thought of that!" She pouted, puffing out her cheeks.

"So no one else woke up with their clothes this morning?" Naegi asked from behind Ikusaba.

"'Fraid not, chick." Owada shook his head in response. "No clothes, no blankets, not even a freaking towel."

"You didn't have any towels either?" Kirigiri raised her brow.

"Yeah, but not much damage was done." Asahina replied. "Aside from these two pervs and their noses, everything else is the same."

"Gh-!" Owada gritted his teeth. "Hey, I already said it was an accident! And we're sorry! How do you expect us to react when you walk out like...that?" He asked with a small blush.

"Hey! I'm just trying to find some stupid clothes!" Asahina yelled back. "How was I supposed to expect anything?!"

"Would you two please calm down?" Naegi yelled. "We can't already start fighting like this! This is just what Monokuma wants!" She pointed out.

The two grumbled to themselves for a brief moment before sighing to themselves. They knew Naegi had a point. This was all just some part of Monokuma's planning, and if these two were already starting to fight each other, it was just proving how well his plan was working.

And, as if only to add salt to the wounds, the aforementioned bear took the time to drop in at this.

"Upupu! You know me so well!" He smirked, covering his grin with his paws. The sight of the bear made everyone's blood boil.

"Yo! What the fuck is this about?!" Owada shouted.

"Where the heck are our clothes?!" Asahina asked. She wanted absolutely anything at this point to cover her chest.

"Clothes, clothes, clothes..." Monokuma groaned. "Clothes are overrated, you know? I mean, look at me! I'm just a bear, and no one ever cares about whether or not I'm clothed, right?"

"I'm not quite sure the same matter counts if you're a robot." Kirigiri pointed out.

"Psh-posh!" Monokuma replied, shaking his hand. "You guys need to loosen up a little, go with the flow you know? Walking around in the sunshine would do ya some good."

"But there isn't any sun around here..." Naegi commented.

"...Oh yeah." Monokuma tapped his chin as if just realizing this. "Oh well! Who cares? Not me! Just let the murders flow, and you'll all have your little motive fixed."

"Fixed?" Ikusaba raised her brow. "What do you mean fix our motive?"

"What? Did you guys forget already?" Monokuma asked rubbing his chin. "Didn't y'all hear about my motive the other day?" He reminded.

The others looked amongst themselves in confusion. They hated their current predicament, that was a fact, but none of them were willing to commit murder just to get their clothes back. While the idea of everything may have seemed a bit uncomfortable to most, it wasn't enough or worth killing someone else over.

Especially since that someone had to be Oogami of all people.

"You want your clothes back? Then you know what you need to do!" Monokuma said with glee.

"...Why?" Owada questioned.

"What do you mean why?"

"He mean's why would we kill for something like this." Naegi explained. She had a small smile as she looked amongst her friends. "I mean yeah, at first glance this is kind of awkward, but it's not worth killing each other over."

"Naegi's right." Ikusaba nodded in agreement. "So what if we don't have many clothes or whatever? We can still get by."

"Hmm?" Monokuma rubbed his chin curiously. "What are you talking about?" There was confusion and uncertainty brewing within the group.

"W-What do you mean what am I talking about?" Naegi asked in return. "I mean your whole motive thing."

"Oh...Upupupu gyahahahahhahaha!" Monokuma suddenly held his sides as he bellowed in laughter. "That's so funny!"

"What the fuck are you talking about now?" Owada groaned.

"Oh you guys... You and your simple way of thinking this and that." Monokuma grinned. "It's funny that you think this is my motive, that's all." He answered. Kirigiri could feel a pang of worry in her chest.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. She didn't like where this was going, and neither did Ikusaba at this point.

"Let me ask you all something first. Didn't anyone else notice anything when they woke up this morning?" He wondered. Everyone took a moment to think to themselves. Aside from their lack of clothing and blankets, none of them could really point out anything different that happened as they woke up this morning. Except for Ikusaba.

"Well, there was a draft this morning." Ikusaba pointed out.

"Well yeah, but it was just from our lack of clothing, right?" Naegi asked looking down at her. "Of course it would be cold to us if we woke up practically naked."

"Which reminds me," Oogami spoke up, "how did you go about doing so, Monokuma?" That actually was a question most of the group thought of once they realized it. As always, Monokuma just swayed his hands with a grin.

"Oh, forget the minor details." He insisted. "It was just a matter of wasting the last of that sleeping gas stuff."

"You have more of that around?" Asahina was worried. After their last situation involving Hagakure and the sleepovers, she didn't want to discover there was more of it lying around. The last any of them wanted was another murder while everyone slept.

"Hey, clear the stuffing out of your ears!" Monokuma growled. "I said the LAST of it! I just needed a little teensy bit here and there while you guys slept. Oh, and you can take heart in the fact I was veeeerrry gentle undressing you last night." He said with a grin.

Everyone turned beat red at this. While it did make sense in the long run, the last any of them wanted to hear was that some murderous robot took the time to undress each and every one of them while they slept. To only make matters more personal for Ikusaba, she couldn't help but grumble in her mind at this. She realized the position she discovered Kirigiri and Naegi in this morning was her doing as some practical joke.

She made a mental note to have a little "chat" with her partner later on.

"As I was saying, so what did you discover this morning?" Monokuma asked again.

"It was just slightly chilly this morning, big whoop." Ikusaba repeated.

"Very good class! Now, let me ask you something else; why do you think your clothes were the motive?" He tried hiding the growing smirk on his face with little success.

"W-What do you mean? Of course it was the motive!" Asahina insisted.

"Wait a minute..." Kirigiri mumbled to herself, going into thought.

She had a feeling something was strange about all of this, but she needed to piece all the evidence together. She would have actually gone with the idea that the missing clothes were a possible motive, but only if it had just been that. The lack of blankets and towels also supported this idea, making her believe the idea was just means of exposing everyone's privacy. But if neither of these pieces of information had to do with the motive, then what did?

She ran it multiple time through her head, trying to piece together any and all possible scenarios that could lead them to another murder. But no matter how many different possibilities she came across and ran through her head, she couldn't think of anything. There was just one piece of info she couldn't piece together, something she needed to finalize her thought process.

"I'd hate to disappoint you little missy, but the clothes are just a factor of this motive." Monokuma told Asahina.

"Factor?" Naegi asked. "Why would taking our clothes just be a factor?"

"Let me answer that with another question!" He decided. "What do clothes, blankets, and towels have in common?"

"Huh?"

"C'mooooon! Even you should know this!" He grinned.

"Well naturally they keep us from getting cold, correct?" Celes assumed.

Kirigiri's eyes widened in shock. She finally understood what this motive was all about.

"Correctomundo!" Monokuma revealed with excitement.

"S-So what?" Owada crossed his arms with a smirk. "It's gonna take a lot more than a simple breeze to get us to start a murder."

"Yeah, so what if you made it cold?" Asahina smiled proudly. "I work out in the cold on a regular basis! This is nothing!"

"Excuse me, but what do you mean _made _it cold?" He hinted.

"No..." Kirigiri was the only one to realize it before the rest were told. They would all realize what this meant.

"Oh ho, seems Kirigiri has the right idea! This isn't a simple breeze you're all feeling, it's getting colder!"

"C-Colder?" Naegi said with fear. It wasn't a fear for Monokuma's motive, or the realization that came with it. The fear came from not knowing how long the rest of the group could go without committing a murder before someone snapped.

"Yes indeed! Colder! The 'er that comes at the end of cold!" Monokuma continued. "This is a motive I take much pride and joy out of revealing."

"Y-You're making it colder?" Asahina grew worried as she shook. She was used to the cold, perhaps more than the others, but it didn't keep her from feeling the same chill as the rest.

"H-How cold are you planning to make it?" Oogami asked, getting straight to the point. Knowing Monokuma and the puppet master, anything was possible.

"Allow me to answer that in a way that answers all future questions!" Monokuma announced. The wicked smile growing on the other side of the robot's controller knew no bounds. "The current temperature is 59 Degrees and dropping. Until the next murder occurs, the temperature will continue to drop by 5 degrees every hour." Celes understood the severity of the situation before the others could.

_**"In other words, by this time tomorrow, we'll all freeze to death."**_

...

...

...

A/N: Hoofta! Ok, sorry for the delay on this one folks (It took a guy more than 3 days to update a fanfic...what a shock...). If you witnessed my previous oneshot i did a few days ago, you'll know this only took about 2-3 days to update if you add it up. And then it took awhile to type again after all the self-scarring it caused... Besides, given how long i made last weeks chps, i think I could get some leeway with how long it took to update this one, don't ya think X/? ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S FREAKING 10k+ UPDATES XP!

Anyway, were 1 review away from another bonus episode ^^! Same rules apply: anything goes, since it's all considered outside the main storyline. I will pm the lucky 10th/50th reviewer myself, so don't bother saying "OMG! OMG! I'M PEEING IN EXCITEMENT! I'm THE 10TH! DERHURHUR!"...on second thought just don't mention anything involving pee or other things at all XP just leave a nice sized review and then i'll be asking ya what you wish for your bonus episode XP

Again, they can involve anything, but I will warn, there is a 24-hr respond period in which you must reply. Otherwise, it'll go on to the next reviewer after to save space. Anyway, like and review as always if you enjoyed ^^! And share this fic with your friends! The more feedback i get, the more oomph i get to reply! (which i currently need due to a severe lack of dangan ronpa: another episode playthroughs that aren't freaking SUBBED PAST CHP 2 X(!)

Anyway, enjoy, and hope to see ya all soon ^^!


	22. Bonus Episode 4: Chibi Naegi Part 1

A/N: A rather interesting request from ExplosiveKingdom, who decided to take a more interesting approach to the bonus episode choice :P! Not that I'm complaiing, mind you. After all, the deal was that ANYTHING you requested would go ^^! He's just the first one to actually take that rule to the to it's fullest ^^

In advanced, I'd like to apologize to explosivekingdom again. Ideally, this was supposed to star Naegi as a little older child. Unfortunately with my autism (or my brain), I had a slight misunderstanding to the point of accidentally creating her and her personality a little too young X/ Because of that, I had to reformat a few bits here and there to match the story better, as well as her overall age.

Again, sorry Explosivekingdom. I can say with 100% certainty this is somehow westerner's fault. Don't ask me how, he's the only other person I can think of that isn't me ^^

So with that in mind, Enjoy ^^!

...

...

...

"Let's see... Move that over here, and that over there and... Done!" Monokuma cheered as he clapped his paws together.

Within the dark confines of the school, in a room pitch black with darkness, save for the one spotlight surrounding Monokuma, the evil mastermind was currently working on his latest "Project". What was the project for, you ask? When it came to this evil mechanical teddy bear, anything was possible.

For the last several days straight, he had been working on the device, trying to perfect it's proto-type creation and wonder. The students had actually gone a few days without so much as seeing him, save for the regular Monokuma announcements that play every morning and night. To them, this was like a little vacation.

Of course, it didn't come without it's limits. As always, they were still trapped within this forsaken school, and several of them never lost their caution as they awaited whatever the evil puppet master was working on. At the same time, it was rather peaceful to them for not having to worry or listen to the sound of some black 'n white bear popping up out of nowhere for several days now. Some of them were even praying that he was gone for good now.

They knew better than to wish for that naturally.

As to why the bear was missing for as long as he was, it all dates to the current project he was doing. It was for the sake of despair and utter madness as always, but this time around, it was also for the mere sake of boredom. Being the mastermind that he is, it took some time for him to come up with new and inventive motives every now and then. To alleviate the boredom that came with creating a plan, he decided to work on a few "toys" he's been meaning to get around to.

Like all his scheme and inventions, it took him some time to piece this one altogether. And why wouldn't it? It was a rather complicated device he was meaning to work on, and he worked endlessly on it's creation. Even though it was just a prototype, so as to not waste materials on a final creation, it still took about three days straight to finish it.

"Upupupu!" Monokuma laughed with excitement. "I can't wait to use this!" He said, holding up his latest creation.

Given it's shape and form, it appeared to be a ray-gun of some kind. Like your traditional sci-fi technologies, it's shape resembled that of an AK-47 with a blue plastic appearance. The gun hole was shaped in the form of an antennae, protruding outward like a satellite dish.

Being the prototype that it was, it was pretty simplistic in design, with no other notable features other than the trigger near the handle, and a scope attachment for the top. Truly, after all his hard work and wits, this would be greatest thing he has ever created!

There was only one problem now that he was facing.

"...Now what the heck is this thing?" He scanned the device curiously.

After working on it for three days straight, he was so preoccupied on working on the device that he barely, or bearly for those who say otherwise, paid any attention to _what_ he was actually trying to make. With all the wires, power sources, and configuration he had to handle back and forth, it was only natural for him to lose focus on what he was actually trying to make. It might be confusing to some aspect, but overall the issue stemmed from paying less attention to the name of the gun, much less the purpose, as opposed to trying to put it all together.

He flipped the device over numerous times, even looking into the barrel of it at one point, trying to figure out how it worked or what it's purpose was for again. He knows it was supposed to do something, so that only left nine-thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-nine possibilities remaining. That REALLY narrowed it down to some extent.

"It was supposed to do... something..." He muttered to himself. He pulled out an incredibly long list which he used for his current project. "Let's see here...Step 1: Create schematics for a Despair-Inducing Device. Check!" He cheered, marking off the box with a black marker. "Step 2: Create actual Despair-inducing Device. Check-Check!" He chuckled.

"Hmm... Huh?" He tapped the bottom of his chin with the back of his marker as he continued. At least, he would have if the rest of the page wasn't torn off. "Oh damn it!" He grumbled, looking around the floor. It was times like this he wished his "evil lab", which was actually just an unused chemistry class within the school, wasn't as big as it was. In this pitch blackness, it was hard to see his own feet on the floor, much less the ground.

It probably would've meant something more if he actually had placed the name of his device on any of the actual steps. All he had were the steps to follow, and the instructions on making the device, but no details on what it did or anything.

Even after he attempted to turn all the lights on, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find anything around his lab, just desks, work tables, and all the other lab equipment that was previously in the room. In addition to remembering to write more details of his inventions in the future, he made a mental note to find a more suitable "evil lab" where he wouldn't lose his things from now on.

Finally giving up after searching for several minutes, he sighed, looking at the ray-gun-looking device in his paws once again. "Well, no point in waiting around I guess." He stated. He rubbed his chin curiously as he stared into thought. "Now I just need to think of who to use it on." He mumbled.

"It would have to be someone _special_. Somebody I have absolutely no grudge against..."

...

...

...

"Naeeeegiiiiii!" Ikusaba called out, searching through the halls. She huffed in annoyance as she continued searching. If there was one thing she could never stand, it was Kirigiri taking HER Naegi away! She always pulled her away right when Ikusaba wanted to spend time with her

Sure, she always wanted to spend time with her to begin with, but that was besides the point! Naegi was hers to begin with, and not that stupid violet girl's! At least, that's what she kept telling herself whenever Naegi was preoccupied with her.

She's searched for nearly half an hour for the two so far. She's searched all through the second through fourth floors, and has yet to find even the slightest hint of Naegi's or Kirigiri's presence. She figured if they were going to spend time together somewhere, then it would have to be somewhere fun or with purpose.

But after a thorough search of the last several floors, the only floor she had yet to fully check out was the first floor. Specifically speaking, the lunchroom. Now that she thought about it, it would make sense. After all, it was about noon time by now, so if she wasn't somewhere around the lunchroom grabbing a snack, then she couldn't be anywhere.

Normally under these circumstances, she would utilize the help of her trusted partner via the transmitter. However, for the last several days, she's had little to no contact with her for matters she couldn't figure out. At first she might have thought her partner was sick, but after a brief check up her partner had on the second day, that was blown out of proportion. And all they checked in with her on was the status of the students.

After that, she once again went silent. She would've taken the time to check in personally with her partner, but with Kirigiri all around her lately, she couldn't take the chance or the opportunity to check in with them. It wouldn't matter anyway at the time, since her partner has been keeping to themselves as of late, so it would have been a pointless endeavor.

Finally coming across the lunchroom, she was overcome with a great sense of relief. As expected, there she saw Naegi and Kirigiri chatting near the main table they always gathered around. She probably would've noticed them sooner if they weren't at the far end of the table as opposed to the center of it like they always were.

With a mental groan, and a psychical warm smile, she calmly made her way over to them as casually as she could.

"Hey, Naegi!" Ikusaba greeted as she neared them. Like always, Kirigiri and Ikusaba went back to their game of glaring at one another when Naegi wasn't looking.

"Oh, hey Ikusaba." Naegi replied with a wave. "We were just about to have lunch together. You wanna join us?" Ikusaba giggled.

"Of course, that sounds lovely!" She replied. As tradition, when Naegi turned her attention back towards Kirigiri, Ikusaba threw the glare as Kirigiri smiled to Naegi.

"You don't mind if she joins us, do you Kirigiri?" Naegi asked.

"Of course not." She lied with a warm smile. Under the table, she was squeezing the life out of her fingers as she held back her rage. "It would be wonderful if she joined us." She said with a grit of her teeth.

"That's great." Ikusaba smirked. "And maybe after, Naegi, I was wondering if you'd like to relax in the sauna with me?"

Naegi faced her once again. "Huh? But Kirigiri wanted to head over to the rec room to play some pool." Kirigiri grinned at this.

"That's right," she replied, pulling Naegi closer by her shoulder, "WE were going to play for awhile in the rec room to relax." A vein began boiling on the back of Ikusaba's head.

"Well, I'm SURE Naegi would find it more relaxing if she rested in the Sauna." Ikusaba retorted, pulling Naegi closer by her other shoulder.

"G-Girls?" Naegi mumbled. She knew the two of them liked spending time with her, on some cases a little too much, but at times like this, they would start getting a little too serious about things.

It started turning into a game of tug-of-war after a minute.

"Why would she want to spend time getting all sweaty and exhausted after?" Kirigiri yelled a bit.

"Because after, she can relax with a nice hot bath afterwards." Ikusaba smirked back. Kirigiri actually gave her a point for this.

It wasn't just a matter of spending time with Naegi doing one thing- after building up all that sweat afterwards, Naegi would be more likely to take a bath afterwards, spending MORE time with Ikusaba. Though, at the time, the fact Ikusaba created a plan to both hang out with Naegi and bathe with her after is what got to her.

_"Damn, she gets credit for that..." _She muttered in her head. "But she'd rather play pool!"

"A-Actually I wouldn't mind playing darts-" Naegi muttered.

"She wants to relax!" Ikusaba growled back to Kyoko.

This was going from a game of tug-of-war to a battle tug-of-Naegi. And the poor girl being pulled back and forth in the middle of it was too sheepish to tell either of the two currently-terrifying girls that. She just wanted a nice peaceful day where everyone could be happy, as always, but around these two, they always made it hard to keep a calming atmosphere.

It was at this time that a little black 'n white mechanical bear was sneaking in through the lunchroom door. With both girls currently at war over Naegi, none of the three could pay any attention as the bear snuck his way over to one of the tables at the farther end of the room. Checking both sides of himself, he grinned as he slowly climbed to the table, his head just peering over the top so as to remain hidden.

Feeling a little optimistic, or just part of his boredom, he decided to make the occasion even more memorable for himself. Clashed in a unique Australian-styled hunting outfit, he wore a leather marksman's hat with string running under his neck, wearing a camouflage vest across his chest. To add even more "flavor" to the outfit, he appeared to be chewing on a toothpick.

"'Ello, mates." He muttered to himself, talking as if he was on an actual show. "For today's special, I'm gonna bag me a reeeeal crikey fellow, yes I am." He was having to much fun to care if he was actually speaking in an Australian or partial British accent.

With a menacing grin, he carefully maneuvered the reticle of the scope in front of his eye, waiting until it was positioned just right. "For today's special, 'ere huntin' us a big bloke, yes-indeed-I-am. Now, be veeeeery clever there, mate." He steadied the ray-gun carefully so he could get a clear shot.

"For today's challenge, we're 'unting us the big game you see." His grin would grow much more wickedly if it was physically possible. "Ya see, the reeeeal trick with these buggas' is alllllways knowing where to shoot just right. You can only get one clear shot on the first try, so ya gotta make it count." He steadied his finger over the trigger.

"See 'ere now! You just eeeease your nifty little trigg'a finger 'ere ya do, annnnnnd-!"

*_**PEW!***_

"WAH!" Monokuma let out a yelp of fright.

He hadn't calculated how strong the blast from the gun actually would've been. It ended up creating such a powerful shockwave that it blasted him back against the wall itself. Even though he was a robot, he continued to put on his display as an actor, swiveling his head all around as he continued talking in a disoriented state.

"That's all for this week's Huntin' with Kuma, kids..." He babbled. "Tune in next week when we get a close up measurement of Asahina's boobs...bleeeegh..." He groaned as he collapsed to the ground, falling several feet from the air.

It was at this time that that the tug-of-Neagi game was beginning to come to a close.

After being yanked back and forth for several minutes. even the easy-going Naegi was beginning to find herself irritated. All she wanted to do was spend a peaceful evening, hanging out with any of her friends, even if it came to these two. After being tugged back and forth though, with her head throbbing to one side and another, even her irritation was reaching it's limits.

"Will you both just stop it already!" Naegi yelled, yanking her arms from the both of them. Even these two knew when they pushed a bit too far. If Naegi was getting mad, it was serious.

"B-But Naegi-!" Kirigiri tried to reply, frowning slightly at how pointless it was.

"We just want to spend time with you..." Ikusaba whined. Naegi groaned to herself. She was never one for arguing much, especially since they just wanted to socialize, but she was finding it annoying how they kept haggling her constantly like this.

"Look, I get that but-!"

*_**PEW!***_

*_BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*_

Before another word could be uttered, Naegi was struck by a sudden surge of light, one which radiated and enveloped all of Naegi in a blinding flash. Both girl shielded their eyes in response, covering their vision from the blinding light that caught them both off guard.

For a single second, their thoughts were where this light might have came from. The second after, they were filled with dread, realizing Naegi herself was being caught in the center of this blinding light. Neither of them knew what it was doing, nor what was happening to Naegi as the light continued to engulf her. Their only concern was what was actually happening to Naegi at this moment.

"_**Naegi!**_" They both yelled in unison.

Both their minds were filled with fear and despair. Whatever was happening to Naegi, neither of them knew. The only thing that was following this large burst of light was a strange humming noise which vibrated throughout the room like a buzz. Ikusaba was just as confused at this, having no idea this was her own partner's doing, having been kept in the dark about any future plans.

What started out as a singeing, blinding, light, slowly died down to that of a mere speckle. With the light dissipated and buzzing grinding to a halt, the two were struck with shock as they looked back. All they were greeted with was nothing more than a strange white steam-like cloud evaporating from the remains of Naegi's clothes.

Her clothes were all that was left of the former Super High School Level Good Luck. There was nothing else left. Just Naegi's clothes, and the small lump they made as they were piled on top of one another.

Both girls filled with a feeling of emptiness, however that works, as they stared at the remains of their former love. They were devastated, unable to take their eyes off the sight as they gaped in horror. Part of them felt like this was a bad dream, thinking this was just a result of thinking of Naegi in their final moments before going to sleep for the night.

Another part of them thought, even wished, this was just some elaborate magic trick that Naegi had just pulled off in front of them. It was the only other explanation the two wished to think of as they watched the last of the steam cloud dissipate from Naegi's clothing. Kirigiri even found herself dropping to her knees, arms drooped to her sides with a frozen expression of terror on her face.

"N...Nnn..Naa..." Kirigiri was speechless. There was no way to describe the overwhelming sense of sorrow entering her heart. As for Ikusaba, she was a woman of action. She was used to this kind of despair, but despair like this? She didn't know what to feel about it. All she could do was shift her head towards the source of the bright beam of light.

It was there, at the other end of the room, that she saw him. Monokuma, still in a disoriented state, rubbing his head as he tried to pull himself up on the table. Like before, in the act that he was a real person, he let out a groan as he rubbed his head, still sore with pain.

At that moment, Ikusaba snapped. She was overcome with a sudden rush of anger as her face tightened, gritting her teeth and squeezing her fists as rage took over her.

"Youuuu..." Her voice trembled with unbridled rage. Not even caring about Kirigiri being present, she quickly bolted in a mad dash, rushing towards and tackling Monokuma into the wall.

"Ack!" He yelped again, grabbing Ikusaba's arms as he tried to pry it from his throat. "What happened to the whole attack the headmaster rule?!"

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up!" She roared, pulling out a gun which she pressed the small camera lens in Monokuma's eye. "Tell me, now. Tell me, what the FUCK you did to Naegi, NOW!" She growled.

"Beats me." He shrugged with a grin. "I didn't even remember what I was making anyway."

"BULL! SHIT!" She pressed the gun tighter against the lens in Monokuma's eye. "Tell me now, or I'll come for you. And I mean YOU, not this fucking bear." She threatened. It was this amount of rage and despair, that made Ikusaba a member of Ultimate Despair herself. Like before, Monokuma just shrugged.

"Would it make ya feel any better if I told ya I was aiming for Kirigiri?" Sadly that was the truth. He just has terrible aim.

"N-Naegi..." Kirigiri's voice trembled. She was an elite detective, a member of a special society. Yet, nothing could stop the tears welling up in her eyes. She squeezed her fingers, but in sorrow, not rage. She couldn't believe what was happening, especially to her Naegi. "N-Nooo..."

The tears trickled down her face as she cried silently. She couldn't believe it- after all this time of trying to find and be close to Naegi after all these years, she was suddenly taken away from her right in front of her. It wasn't fair, that was a fact. She couldn't even stop herself from reaching towards Naegi's remains.

It was like she was in a trance. If anything could bring any ounce of happiness back into the rest of her life, she felt that Naegi's remains were the answer. She couldn't explain why. Perhaps she felt as if some miracle would occur if she touched the clothes once more.

"Mmmhhh..." A faint shrill voice could be heard moaning from within the piles of clothes. Kirigiri froze as she was just about to touch the pile of clothing. Her pupils dilated like a tremor as she saw the strange pile of clothes beginning to stir.

"N-Naegi...?" Kirigiri stuttered in a more audible tone. Ikusaba's ears managed to perk up as that one little word managed to wring through her utter despair. Slowly turning her head back, she gasped, watching as the pile of clothes were moving ever so slightly.

"Naegi?" Ikusaba muttered, quickly dropping Monokuma and running back.

*THUD*

"Ow!" Monokuma yelped, rubbing his nose as he got up. "A little bit of politeness would be appreciated." He grumbled, walking over to where the two gathered.

Back at the site, the two girls leaned in closely towards the moving pile. They couldn't understand what was happening. Was Naegi okay? Did something happen to her? Even Ikusaba couldn't tell what was happening, and she was the closest one to the mastermind.

"Naegi?" Ikusaba questioned with worry and concerned. Kirigiri didn't care as Ikusaba kneeled down right next to her. Both girls loved Naegi dearly, and both of them cared deeply for her safety. Whatever happened to her, whatever issue she suddenly fell under, they swore to themselves that they would help her through it.

"Naegi...?" Kirigiri mumbled again, reaching over towards it. That's when the mound of clothes stirred once more.

And then, they appeared.

Popping their head out of the overgrown yellow shirt Naegi originally wore, Ikusaba and Kirigiri watched dumbfounded as a tiny figured appeared from within the clothing. The shirt itself was draped over their entire body and dangling on the ground. Whoever this new figure was, which was obvious by this point, they were barely half the size of the shirt itself. They probably would've been more noticeable from the clothing if Hagakure's massive jacket hadn't covered a majority of the remaining clothes.

The figure themselves appeared to be Naegi all the same, just incredibly smaller with a few notable changes. For starters, her milky green eyes had a brighter contrast to them, also being larger than normal given her new size. Her hair appeared to be slightly long too, coming down to the bottom of her neck from behind. And she appeared to be in a strange, tired state, eyes half-opened and her shoulders all sluggish.

"N-Naegi?" Ikusaba muttered softly. Naegi just stared off into space for a brief moment before frowning.

"Nnnghhhhh..." She wined, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Kirigiri just blinked, unable to believe what she was looking at.

"N-Naegi?!" Kirigiri nearly stammered.

Naegi turned her attention towards the two larger figures, eyes full of tears and face full of sadness. Upon seeing the two figures, Naegi blinked, instantly ceasing the cries coming from her. Looking back between the two, Naegi sadness slowly changed into an expression of excitement. What she did next truly shocked them.

"Mommies!" She squealed in a tiny voice. She raised her arms excitedly towards the two, her arms covered by the sleeves which dangled to the floor. Both Ikusaba and Kirigiri caught a lump in their throat, taken back by the two sweet-sounding yet confusing words that were uttered from the little Naegi's mouth.

"Mo-Mommies?!" Ikusaba repeated. Kirigiri barely paid attention, already gushing at the mere mention of mommies. Taking the initiative, and refusing to see Naegi cry out like she was about to in her current state, she gently gathered the young girl in her arms, keeping her wrapped up in her overgrown shirt, looking at her more closely. This just made Naegi even more excited.

"Mommies!" She squealed again, hugging Kirigiri around the neck tightly.

Kirigiri was lost for words. On one hand, she was completely shocked at the sudden physical change Naegi had taken. Given her small size and appearance, from Kirigiri's understanding, Naegi couldn't have been any older than two years old. On the other hand, she was completely infatuated by the small chibi that clung to her neck like she was a motherly figure.

"S-She thinks we're her mothers..." Kirigiri noted with a blush. She couldn't help bit smile a little as Naegi snuggled her head under Kirigiri's chin.

"Ooohhh now I remember, it was a Age Device I was working on..." Monokuma mumbled as he observed the scene before him. Both "mothers" glared angrily at the bear, while at the same time, Naegi stare at him with curiosity.

"Huh?" She cooed. She quickly grew excited as she tried reaching for Monokuma with both her arms. "Teddy!" She giggled. Monokuma instantly became swooned as he grinned.

"Ooooh, somebody likes meeeee." He chuckled.

"Hmph!" Kirigiri grumbled as she stood up, distancing herself from the bear.

"Ungnghhhhh!" Naegi whined, wanting the bear for herself. "I wan's teddy!" She was already beginning to tear up as she pulled away from the fun-looking "teddy". "Waahahhahhhhh!" Naegi cried out. Kirigiri panicked, quickly patting Naegi's back gently.

"Shh shhh shh, it's okay, it's okay." She shushed softly. Miraculously, this actually appeared to calm her down relatively fast, as Naegi's cries were already reduced to a whimper.

"Dawwwww, I lose more fan girls this way." Monokuma joked. Ikusaba grumbled angrily.

"What the Fff-" Ikusaba paused as she noticed Naegi staring right at her curiously. Kriigiri was shaking her head slightly to her, giving her the idea. Even if they weren't her actual mothers, they could at least refrain from cursing in front of the toddler girl. Groaning to herself and rolling her eyes, Ikusaba paused for a moment as she took a deep breath, calming herself down. "What did you do to her?"

"Who, little old me?" He grinned. "Well if I had to guess, I'd say little miss Nana just went back about twelve years of her life." Neither girl could take what they just heard lightly, much less believe what they were told.

"Are you saying you regressed her?!" Kirigiri stammered.

"No sho mofo!" He slanged, doing a brief twirl. Simply twirling around on his toes was enough to get the young Naegi riled up.

"Teeheehee, teddy funny!" She giggled, clapping her sleeve-covered hands together

"Hahaha! I think I like this Naegi better." He commented.

"Would you just tell us what you did to her?" Ikusaba grumbled. She hated the fact she couldn't shout or lash out in anger with Naegi right in front of her. She bottled it all up as she squeezed her fist.

"I already said! I sent her back to toddler hood." He rubbed his chin as he tried to think. "I was working on a new invention for the last several days, but then I forgot what it was I was making."

"Ok, hold up." Kirigiri interrupted. "One, I know Ikusaba's working for you. Two, don't bother keeping things a secret here, so fill me in on whatever's going on."

"So what? Nothing's different." Monokuma said with a shrug. "I was working on something outta boredom so I came up with that." He rubbed his chin again. "I think I was planning something along the lines of raising my own little family of despairing students. Unfortunately, as I just realized, the plan have a few dilemmas." He explained, revealing the broken contents of his proto-type gun.

"What the-? You broke the device?" Kirigiri questioned.

"Don't say it like that, you make it sound like I did it on purpose." He grumbled. Even the sight of him grumbling was enough to send Naegi into a giggling fit.

"Keheheheh!" She giggled.

"You can considered the plan scrapped." Monokuma continued, tossing the wreckage of the gun against the wall. "The device uses too much of an amplifier base which I need to power each blast. Otherwise the gun won't work at all without a sufficient amount of energy."

"Translation?" Kirigiri raised her brow.

"Long story short, I used a bunch of doodads here and there to make it work, but without the right equipment, I can't even get this to work safely." He replied.

"What does that have to do with Naegi?"

"Nothing, I was just explaining why the gun broke itself from firing one blast."

"Well how do we fix Naegi then?" Ikusaba asked worriedly.

"Oh relaaaax," he gestured swaying his hand calmly, "it was just a prototype thingamajig. The effects should wear off after some time, maybe a day or two at least." He paused as he rubbed his chin. "Then again, I can't remember how long the effects were either."

"YOU MEAN SHE'S STUCK LIKE THIS?!" Ikusaba grumbled, lifting Monokuma up by his neck and shaking him angrily. As always, little Naegi just found this scene to be hilarious as she clapped her hands.

"Wah ah ah ah ah ah ah!" Monokuma yelped as he was shook back and forth. "No, I mean it, relax! It's only temporarily!" He yelped. With another grunt, Ikusaba dropped him to the floor. As he's done constantly to this point, he kept up his act as he swirled his head back in forth as if in a daze.

"Gehehehehehe!" The toddler continued to giggle. Kirigiri groaned mentally from this.

At this point, she could easily tell Monokuma was just acting goofy on purpose just to get Naegi to like him more. She absolutely didn't want someone like Monokuma to look like a role model for her. It have her goosebumps just thinking about it.

Looking back at he young girl, Ikusaba frowned slightly. She had no idea about what to do at this point with the young Naegi. All through her life, she's had a simple life of growing up surrounded by violence, and while she had a few interactions with children, she's never had anything like this to deal with.

Not that she was complaining of course.

Her face tightened as she tried to keep herself from gushing. Just seeing Naegi in her present state, small, giggling, and young like this, it was just too adorable for Ikusaba to care. She wanted to help fix Naegi as soon as possible, but at the same time, she couldn't find herself resisting something this cute and perky when it was right in front of her. Add that to the fact this exact same cute and perky thing was Naegi, and it felt like Christmas to her.

"So… what do we do with her?" Ikusaba asked. Kirigiri sighed knowingly. Obviously, she knew the answer to that, but something about it just didn't feel entirely right to her.

"I guess we just take care of her until she's back to normal." She replied. Ikusaba took a closer look at the young girl in her arms.

"But what about clothes and stuff?"" She wondered. "We don't have anything that can fit her."

Kirigiri looked down curiously at the bundle in her arms. She actually hadn't thought that far in terms of clothes. Even in a school that formerly had 16 teens, she doubted any of them had anything small enough to fit the newly-sized girl.

Now that she thought about it, who knew what else she could possibly need? She was practically two-years-old at the moment, and while Kirigiri actually did have a bit more knowledge with younger kids than Ikusaba, she couldn't tell if the school had anything that could help provide for Naegi.

"Huff, relax." Monokuma sighed swaying his arms. "I'll go scrounge around for some things for the young brunette." He stated. "I'll see what I can dig up with finding clothes and protection for her."

Kirigiri eyed him strangely. "Protection?" The sight of Monokuma grinning slyly filled her with unease.

"Yeah, you know? Diapers, pull-ups, whatever. Unless of course you'd prefer she kept leaking on ya." He replied, pointing to her chest.

"Leaki-! Ahhhhh!" Kirigiri screeched, quickly shoving Naegi into Ikusaba's arms.

"Oh my god…" Ikusaba had a mad blush on her face as she bit her lip.

It wasn't a blush of embarrassment, however. Instead, it was a blush of complete and insatiable laughter she had building up inside her, forcing her to squeeze her lips together just from bursting out laughing.

As the two girls had just noticed by this point, Naegi had apparent wet herself during the course of the conversation. Easily soaking through the thin shirt she been covered with, the rest of it managed to slip through and soak into Kirigiri's own shirt, leaving about a baseball-sized stain on her white shirt. Some of it even dripped to the floor beneath Naegi, though, only on the remains of her other clothing.

Kirigiri herself was speechless. The entire time, she was so focused on the conversation and Naegi's condition that she had barely paid any attention as to what Naegi could be doing. If only to make herself feel more humiliated, she realized that "warm feeling" on her chest just now wasn't her concern and worry for Naegi- it was the toddler leaving her own mark on her shirt.

Like anyone would at this point, Kirigiri had an un-resistable urge to shout out in shock and anger. If it wasn't for the fact the still giggling girl was looking at her in Ikusaba's are, she would have shouted out in anger, one built up enough to easily frighten the small girl.

However, that rule didn't apply to Ikusaba. Her brow twitched with fury. She could see it just by looking in Ikusaba's eyes, the laughter and embarrassment she was keeping bottled up inside her mouth, trying to keep from bursting with laughter at the sight of the pee-stained Kirigiri. Ikusaba would never let her live this down for as long as she lived.

"W-Well, l-lo-look at i-it th-this way, Kirigiri." Ikusaba's voice trembled. Not from one of fear or sadness, but one from the amount of strength she was forcefully using just to keep herself from laughing as she spoke. "I-I'm sure she's st-still potty trained. B-But a-all that w-water had to go s-so-somewhere, right? Pffffffft-!" Iksuaba's cheeks puffed out as she blew. No amount of training could keep her from letting out a small puff of laughter through her lips.

The only thing keeping her from lashing out in rage was the small bundle of joy currently in Ikusaba's arms. She had an impenetrable shield at this point. As long as Naegi was in-between the two of them like this, she couldn't lay a finger on Ikusaba.

She would have to buy her time and destroy her later.

At least Monokuma had already disappeared through the floorboards, though the sound of his laughter echoing through the floor carried on for awhile.

Taking a moment to collect herself, Kirigiri squeezed her fist, taking a deep breath and counting to ten in order to calm down. "Alright." She breathed out calmly. "Ikusaba. I am going to go change clothes," Kirigiri told her as she kneeled down, "and I'm going to throw these in the wash." She added, gathering the remains of Naegi's clothes. There wasn't much of a stain on the, maybe several droplets here and there. It was better to be safe than sorry of course.

"While I'm gone, watch over Naegi. And don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. Got it?" She gritted her teeth as she spoke. She had so many things to yell about, none of which she could do in front of Naegi.

"Ohhh, did mommy have an accident too?" Ikusaba teased, covering her grin with her fist. Kirigiri's brow twitched with anger. If her anger continued to rise passed this point, it wouldn't be too surprising to see her brow pop right off.

"I. Mean. It." She said sternly but calm. After only taking a single step though, she felt something snag on the back of jacket's sleeve. "Ikusaba, I swear I-!" It wasn't Ikusaba that was bugging her still.

She was amazed as she saw Naegi herself pulling on her sleeve with a saddening expression on her face. Kirigiri couldn't help but awe at the sight. The young girl herself looked ready cry again if Kirigiri had gone any farther. She had forgotten after the recent accident that Naegi had mistaken them for her motherly figures.

Just the sight of it was enough to make her forget her rage towards Ikusaba…almost.

"Eheehhh ehhhhh! Mommyyyyyy!" The young Naegi whined. Kirigiri smiled down at her, patting Naegi's head as she leaned her head closer to Naegi's.

"It's ok sweetie, mommy will be right back." She assured. The young Naegi giggled slightly as Kirigiri nuzzled her forehead against her's softly. Even Ikusaba couldn't help but find the scene slightly sweet. "You be a good girl for icky, ok?"

_"Hey!"_ Ikusaba easily knew that she was insulting her as a slight form of payback. She didn't really care much though as she watched the two.

"O'tay…" Naegi mumbled back, leaning her head back against Ikusaba's chest as she sucked the tip of her thumb a little.

Now Kirigiri couldn't possibly ever be mad at her, even after what she did. Part of her didn't even want to leave at this point, seeing how sweet and cute Naegi continued to behave. She sighed mentally as she continued on, forcing herself a little to leave the little chibi behind.

Ikusaba smiled down to the small figure in her arms, stroking her head as she held her softly against her chest. "Don't worry Naegi." She cooed softly. "We're going to have fun, ok?"

…

…

…

"No!" Naegi pouted, turning her head away.

"C'mon, pleeease?"

"No!" She pouted again, turning her head the other way this time.

Whatever Kirigiri walked in to upon returning, it was rather cute to watch.

It was about twenty minutes later when Kirigiri finally returned, having washed up, changed clothes, and set Naegi's clothes in a washing machine, she managed to return in under half an hour. In addition, she even had the time to call the other students to meet up in the lunchroom. While keeeping the specific details out, she did at least tell them it was about something important.

If they weren't preoccupied doing what they would normally around this time of the day, such as Asahina with her swimming, then they would have more than naturally followed along with Kirigiri back to the lunchroom.

Coming back to the scene before her, she couldn't help but find it somewhat humorous. Just from observation alone, she could tell what Ikusaba was doing with Naegi, and she found it kind of cute.

During her absence, she could easily assume Monokuma came back with the clothing like he promised. Looking at the young girl, she was now sporting a bright green tee shirt that matched her light blue short pants. She was wearing a cute pair of pink sandals as well. They had a verily light yellow flower outline on it as well. And even though she didn't really need it, Monokuma appeared to have taken the time to find a small bright blue bow for her hair. It was angled slightly on the right side of her head, but she guessed it was just for appearance.

Even with a noticeable lack of bulge around her waist, she assumed that Naegi was at least wearing a diaper, if not a pull-up. It was probably the best option too, since they couldn't tell if Naegi was still backed up with water. She had to give Monokuma credit to some degree- he knew how to find a good outfit for a two-year-old and return with said outfit in a short time.

And as if to put it all together, there was a light-blue duffle bag off to the side of Ikusaba. She figured he must have taken the time to gather everything she might need for the next day or two, and took the liberty of putting all the items in a bag to carry around. No matter how much she hated that bear, she had to compliment his efficiency of getting work done, seeing how he pulled all this off in the twenty minutes she was gone.

As to what she found that was cute was the little scene that was playing before her. Right in front of her, Ikusaba appeared to be feeding, or at least trying to, the little Naegi before her. Unfortunately for her, her efforts were proving to be in vain. Offering what seemed to be a plate of pancakes, Kirigiri figured Naegi must have gotten hungry for lunch during the time she was gone.

But no matter how many times she offered a bite to her, Naegi just turned her head away, unwilling to eat the meal before her. In a way, it was really cute, seeing Naegi acting all fussy about what Ikusaba was trying to feed her. To her, it would've been cuter if Ikusaba wasn't in the picture.

"C'mooon, I thought you were hungry?" Ikusaba said, offering the bite once more.

"Mhmh!" Naegi shook her head, turning away again.

"Hmhmmhm…" Kirigiri stifled a chuckle to herself. It was cute no matter which way she looked at it. "Having trouble there, icky?" She taunted as she walked over. Ikusaba was more irritated at her failure at the moment than being called icky.

"Mmmh!" Ikusaba groaned looking back. "She won't eat! She keeps telling me she was hungry, but she won't take it no matter how many times I offer it!" As if to prove her point, Naegi turned her head away once more as Ikusaba offered her the bite.

"Hmph, well it's no surprise to me." She replied casually walking over. "You're doing it all wrong."

"Huh?" Ikusaba raised her brow in confusion.

"Just watch." She told her. Naegi smiled a little at the sight of her other "mommy" having shown up, watching with Ikusaba as she took a seat near Naegi who was sitting on the table. "C'mon, Naegi, don't you want a nice little pancake?" She offered.

Kirigiri didn't appear to have anymore luck than Ikusaba did. Much like before, Naegi just turned her head away with a pout. "No! Boobewwies!" She pouted.

"We don't have any blueberriiiieess…" Ikusaba groaned, hitting her forehead on the table.

This was the main issue she was having the entire time. No matter how many times Ikusaba said the blueberries wouldn't change the way the pancakes themselves taste, Naegi refused to have a single bite until her demands were met.

What a dictator.

"Awww, but Naaaaegiiii, you'll make mommy sad if you dun eat it…" Kirigiri pouted, puffing out her lower lip with a frown.

Ikusaba had no idea what to expect out of this. She never saw Kirigiri act so immature in front of her before, even for the sake of completing a task. Yet, much to her surprise, it actually yielded results.

With Naegi herself looking back at her "mother", Ikusaba actually saw her frown sadly as she stared up at Kirigiri. She had forgotten how much Naegi saw herself and Kirigiri as her own mothers, something she had to get a few more details on later.

Looking back, she saw Naegi debating between the pancake and her mommy. Naturally, like any picky 2-year-old, she wanted her pancake with blueberries like she demanded. But apparently, which was slightly more mature compared to other 2-year-olds, Naegi seemed considerate of Kirigiri's feelings and her own wants.

"MMmmhhhh…" Naegi moaned sadly. Kirigiri watched her own plan in action, but was careful to to push it too far. The last she wanted was for Naegi to start crying over her acting. Grinning to herself, Kirigiri smiled as she took the serving of pancakes again on the fork, raising it towards Naegi.

"C'mon Naegi, it'll make mommy happy." She assured.

Looking back and forth between the food and Kirigiri, the young girl whined once more as she hesitantly leaned her mouth towards the slice, taking it all in one bite. Kirigiri enjoyed the sight of seeing Naegi actually eat it, but something seemed off in the way Naegi was chewing on it uncomfortably. Her face look kind of pale after swallowing it too as her expression changed to disgust.

"Mmmhhh…" Naegi moaned teary eyed. It wasn't a case any longer of Naegi just wanting it with blueberries. Something was actually wrong here. Kirigiri decided to investigate.

"What's wrong Naegi?" She asked, hugging Naegi a bit closer with her arm on Naegi's farther shoulder. Watching as Naegi clung on to her, she became even more suspicious after Naegi teared up from Kirigiri offering her a second slice.

"Nnggggghhhhheehh." Naegi whined louder, tears actually rolling down her face. Something was officially wrong.

"Why are you so scared of this?" Kirigiri asked herself as she brought it to her face. Eyeing it closely, she took a brief sniff of it before taking a bite herself.

The results left her eyes widened.

"Blek!" Kirigiri coughed in disgust, tossing the fork away while wiping her mouth. Looking back to Ikusaba, the sight of the girl innocently poking her fingers together with a small blush told her everything. "You have absolutely no cooking experience do you?" Kirigiri commented.

"W-Well, I just rarely make things with the stove…" Ikusaba replied.

"Then I also take it she already took a bite before I got here?" Kirigiri raised her brow.

"M-Maybe…" Kirigiri rolled her eyes as she squeezed between her eyes.

Everything basically came together full circle. This was nothing more than the result of Iuksaba trying to forcefully feed Naegi an abomination of mean, consisting of a plate of pancakes. Not only that, but it turned out Naegi did end up trying to eat beforehand, and she wasn't being a picky eater after all. She just didn't want to eat what tasted like garbage.

Groaning to herself, realizing this was part of her fault, Kirigiri looked down apologetically to the still sniffling Naegi. Trying to give a warm smile, she pulled the young girl in closely as she gave her a small hug.

"Mommy's sorry for making you eat that slop, sweetie." Kirigiri apologized warmly.

"Hey!" Ikusaba yelped, partly from shame and anger, other part being embarrassment. "I at least TRIED to make her something, show me credit at least.

Neither of the two paid attention to this. The entire time Ikusaba was making her excuse, Kirigiri was mocking her by mimicking her mouth movements with her hands. This was intentional of course as it provided a great source of amusement for the little Naegi giggling next to her.

"So what do you want to do now?" Ikusaba asked with an irritated expression.

_**"AAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"**_ A familiar voice squealed in absolute joy and excitement. By the time Ikusaba even turned around, she was crashed into and pushed aside by a gushing Asahina.

"OW!"

The tall girl herself practically had hearts in her eyes from the mere sight of the young 2-year-old. _**"OMIGOSH!"**_ Asahina squealed. In what could only be interpreted as lightning fast, Asahina swiftly plucked the young Naegi from the table, hugging her tightly while nuzzling her nose against Naegi's softly. _**"SHE IS SO CUUUUUUTE!"**_

"Gehehehe!" Despite the recentness of the event, Naegi already seemed to be warming up to Asahina as the nuzzling made her giggle.

"Holy-! Is that Naegi?!" Owada could be heard yelling.

"What happened to her?!" Yamada added.

Kirigiri took a brief moment to look at the crashed-into Ikusaba before turning her attention to Owada as he came in. Trailing behind him a few feet away was Yamada, who was just as surprised by this sudden turnabout.

"She's so _**cute!**_" Asahina continued to squeal. Kirigiri had a small smile at the sight of Asahina playfully tossed Naegi into the air as she sat on the table. She didn't actually throw her in all detail, it just felt like that to the person in question. As a matter of fact, Asahina was simply holding her in her arms while pretending that Naegi was being tossed.

"W-What happened to her?!" Yamada stammered again.

"Seriously dude!" Owada yelled squeezing his head. "What the actual FU-!"

*_WHAM!*_

"MOTHER-!" Owada suddenly yelped in pain, doubling over as he held his hand between his legs in agony. Looking to the source of the powerful kick, Kirigiri knew there was only one soldier strong enough to leave the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader in pain. The angered expression on her face told her so.

"Watch your language in front of her you dumba-ehhh...dolt." Ikusaba yelled. Owada grumbled as he leaned his head up just enough to glance up at her.

"A little warning would have been more appreciated..." He groaned.

"Which brings me back to my previous question, what happened?" Yamada repeated for the third time.

"Do you really have to ask?" She wondered. That was surprisingly enough of an answer to figure out the rest.

"Are you saying Monokuma shrunk the young Master Makoto Naegi?" Yamada was in disbelief.

"Hmm not exactly." Kirigiri replied shaking her head. "To be more accurate, he regressed her with some weird device thing."

"Ohhhh." Yamada adjusted his glass as he inspected the new Naegi. "...He still technically shrunk her." He commented, wanting to maintain a small portion of victory. Kirigiri just rolled her eyes at this.

Looking back to the still-giggling girl, Kirigiri couldn't help but feel a bit of peace as she watched her enjoy herself. Seeing a girl as young as Naegi laughing and enjoying herself in a place like this, it almost made her forget the troubles surrounding this school. The sight of Kirigiri smiling at her filled Naegi with even more excitement as she reached for her.

"Mommy!" She squealed. While gently handing her over to Kirigiri, seeing how the young girl wanted to go somewhere, Asahina's eyes widened in both shock and surprise.

"M-Mommy...?" She questioned. Both Ikusaba and Kirigiri had a small blush on their face. Being back in one of her "mothers'" arms, Naegi giggled as she buried her head under Kirigiri's chin.

"A-After what happened to her, she mistook us for her mothers." Ikusaba stated as she scratched her cheek.

"I-I'm guessing it's just a psychological thing." Kirigiri explained with a shrug. "Like when baby ducks hatch from an egg, she probably thinks we're her mothers since we're the first two people she saw." She looked down at the young girl as she started giggling again.

"Cack! Cack! Cack!" She imitated a duck, waving her arms around. Kirigiri was overcome with an uncontrollable chuckle as she patted her head.

"Hehheheh, yes they do, don't they?" She smiled as Naegi leaned her head under Kirigiri's neck, closing her eyes as if to rest.

"So this is Monokuma's doing?" Owada guessed, still bent over in pain.

"Doubt anyone else could." Ikusaba replied, sitting on the table near Kirigiri. "He decided to test some stupid toy or whatever and blasted her to this. Fortunately though, it'll only last about a day or so."

"Aww, poor thing." Asahina moaned, leaning closer to the young Naegi. Looking back to the swirly-haired girl, both girls began to laugh as Naegi tried playing with the tip of Asahina's hairdo. "Does she remember anything?"

Kirigiri looked at Naegi with curiosity. "I really don't know to be honest. She doesn't seem to recall anything, but she seems pretty friendly towards all of us."

"Yeah, but she was also friendly towards that furball she calls "teddy", remember?" Ikusaba reminded as she lowered her gazed. "I don't think there is any way to tell if she remembers anything or not."

"Hmm, then allow me to test that theory." Yamada offered as he stepped up to her. The young Naegi looked up to him, blinking in curiosity. "Hello there Master Makoto Naegi." He greeted, offering a handshake. "Do you remember who I am?"

Naegi poked her lip with her finger. She had a slight frown as she stared up at the large man, looking as if she was trying to figure out who this mysterious, large, man in front of her was. It was hard to tell if she was just sucking the tip of her finger as she thought, or trying to think at all.

In actuality, it was hard to tell at all if she was thinking of him to begin with. No one could tell what the young two was contemplating, what with her memories appearing to have been wiped clean. No one could figure out what was going on through her mind, especially since it was hard for themselves to recall what their own mindset was like at the age of two.

After what seemed like a minute, everyone looked expectantly as Naegi gasped, opening her mouth to speak.

"You weally fat." She stated.

*_shatter_*

For those of you with supersensitive hearing, that was the sound of Yamada's own heart shattering, feeling as if a nail was struck through it from the little girl's words. Waiting for him to reply, everyone, instead, watched as he kneeled over in a corner, sobbing to himself on the inside as a little storm cloud rained above his head.

Everyone actually felt a little sorry for him, but none of them could even think of yelling out against the little girl who just insulted him. It would've been a little unjust for them to do so anyway, since they were laughing on the inside. The only one who could respond audibly was Owada, who had finally recovered from his war injury.

"Hahaha, least she's honest!" He laughed.

"Maybe a little too much..." Kirigiri mumbled, covering the smirk on her lips.

"Well, if we're all done here, then we'll be on our way." Asahina said as she walked away with Naegi in her arms.

"Huh?" Kirigiri was irresistible to the double-take that followed after.

Looking back between her now-open arms and Asahina, she didn't even feel as Asahina swiped the young Naegi out of her arms. All she saw for a brief moment was a flashing outline of Naegi's small body where her arms used to be. Asahina was definitely obsessed with the chibified girl.

"Hey!" Kirigiri yelped angrily. Before she could even react, Ikusaba was already bolting down towards her, blocking Asahina's path.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Iksuaba grumbled. "Give me back Naegi before you go!" Asahina grumbled as she held Naegi away.

"No way!" She argued. "You girls keep playing with her Naegi even before this every single day!"

"A little too much from what I'm noticing..." Owada commented while scratching his head.

"Besides, little Naegi loves me, don'cha sweetie?" Asahian cooed, nuzzling her nose again against Naegi's. Like always, this ended up with Naegi giggling in response, but it was unsure if she was giggling in agreement, or just from the tickling sensation that tingled around her face.

Most likely the latter.

"Geheehehehe!" Naegi chuckled in laughter.

The only one not laughing between the three was Ikusaba, her rage boiling to an unstable temperature. "I am prepared to use force if necessary..." She warned, squeezing her fists.

"Pwtpwtpwtpwtpwtpwt!" Asahina blew a raspberry as she stuck out her tongue.

"Pwtpwwt!" Naegi giggled as she tried to mimic this action, resulting in Asahina laughing in response.

"Hahaha! See? She takes after her Aunty 'Hina, doesn't she?" Asahina said with excitement, patting Naegi's head.

"Geehhh tch..." Ikusaba gritted her teeth harshly. It was the only way to keep herself from spewing every single curse rising on her tongue at that moment. As much as Kirigiri enjoyed the sight of Ikusaba raging over something, she refused to let Naegi become the victim of this in some shape or form.

"Girls, please." Kirigiri said softly, gesturing them to calm. "Look Ikusaba, much as I hate to say it, Naegi's only like this temporarily. We need to be fair and share her with everyone." Ikusaba looked at her in disbelief. Out everyone that would be thinking of such a thing, she's surprised Kirigiri of all people would say such a thing.

"But Kirigiriiiiiiiiii!" She whined.

"Uhhh, hey..." Owada spoke up. He had a strange pink blush across his cheeks, eyes shifted over so he didn't look at the girls directly. "I ehhh...eh hem...I umm...w-wouldn't mind hanging out with her too for awhile, you know." He stated.

Needless to say, all three girls were surprised by this. Not in a million years, did they ever expect anyone from a biker gang, especially Owada who was the leader of Japan's most known gang, to ever say something like that. They did know he was good inside and everything, but they didn't expect him to have a soft spot for kids around Naegi's age.

"That seems fair I guess." Asahina gave in easily. This only furthered Ikusaba's anger towards her.

"What the ffff- heck! You steal Naegi from me and Kirigiri but you're allowing him to take it whenever he wants?!" She grumbled. With her rage boiling to the point it was, it took everything to keep from shouting and scaring the little girl in Asahina's arms. Asahina just puffed out her cheeks as she shook her head away.

"Hmph! He happened to ask politely, thank you very much."

"Hem! Vewy mush!" Naegi mimicked, earning another chuckle from Asahina.

"She's so sweet..." She mumbled with a nuzzle.

"Ho ho! If we're taking the opportunity to socialize with the young Master, then I wish to partake in this as well." Yamada said, having fully recovered from his recent heart break. His glasses shined with a brilliant light as he adjusted them. "Her in intuit of the child-like mind will provide great data for my future Doujinshi's." He added.

Kirigiri nodded in understanding. Not just herself and Ikusaba, but apparently everyone wanted a chance to play with the new Naegi while she was in this state. She really couldn't help complain either, given how cute even she found the new Naegi to be. She never felt herself gush so much over the sight of one innocent-looking child.

Sure, it was a cute child AND it was her Naegi at the same time, but there was just something about Naegi's new appearance that she found absolutely adorable. It was unfitting for a person in her line of work, but she didn't care. All she cared about was settling everything for everyone, so it would end up wasting even less time, and then they could get to being with Naegi sooner again.

"Alright, alright, then lets all compromise here." Kirigiri stated, looking over at the clock. "It's about one o'clock now, so we'll all take turns with her. Asahina, since your so enthusiastic, you can get her first if you wish."

"Woohooooo!" She cheered, hugging onto the little Naegi even tighter.

"Aww c'mon!" Ikusaba whined, tears flowing from her eyes mentally.

"Then, without any important complaints-"

"HEY!"

"Owada, do you wish to play with her after?" Kirigiri asked. He didn't deny it, but he couldn't help but blush with slight embarrassment as he turned away.

"D-Don't say it like that, b-but...yeah. I'll keep an eye on her then." He assured.

"Ah, then I believe that leaves me with her after?" Yamada proposed knowingly.

"Of course." Kirigiri confirmed with a nod. "Everyone gets her for two hours, alright? Afterwards, Ikusaba and I will watch over her for the rest of the evening before her bedtime then at 8." She finished explaining.

"At 8?" Ikusaba stared up into thought for a moment as she did the math in her head. "One per... two hours...Hey!" Ikusaba yelped angrily. "That means we only get for an hour before putting her to sleep!" She complained as Kirigiri walked over. "Why the heck do we only get her for an hour when-!"

She was immediately silenced as Kirigiri pulled her by the shoulder, tilting her head closer to her. "The others don't know when exactly she turns back, so we'll just get her for the rest of the day tomorrow and for longer compared to the rest." Kirigiri whispered with a grin. Ikusaba's eyes widened as she understood.

"Ooooh..." She muttered with a nod.

She still didn't like the fact they would only get to play with her for an hour, and then most of the day tomorrow. It was her partner that did this to Naegi, so it was only right that she got to take care of Naegi until she changed back completely! At least that was the excuse she wanted to use in order to keep Naegi around herself for longer.

To be fair, Kirigiri didn't really like this idea anymore than she did. It was the only way she could think of compromising with the rest without trying to sound suspicious or unreasonable. She wanted everyone else to simply assume she was being fair so that when she took Naegi tomorrow, they would less likely question her on why she and Ikusaba would be allowed to keep little Naegi for so long.

The only bit that continued to trouble her was the ongoing wait. Now with this compromise in check, they would have to wait several hours before having their turn with Naegi themselves.

At least the others like Celes and Oogami were unaware of the current situation. Whatever they were busy doing, it was probably for the best. This way, she could keep their compromise the way it was without including them in the future anymore, under the excuse that they didn't show up for the meeting or something.

So, with a smile, Kirigiri walked back to little Naegi ones again, Ikusaba following along side her. Naegi smiled up at her happily as she walked over, still clung to Asahina's arms.

"Alright sweetie, you be good for your aunts and uncles for awhile, ok?" She said softly, patting Naegi's head.

"I'd prefer the title, perhaps, of Older Brother..." Yamada commented. Owada just rolled his eyes.

"Ya keep that up, she'll end up calling you "Chubby Brother"." He joked. The reminder of those dreaded, hurtful words that were uttered from Naegi's lips caused Yamada to lower his head once more in shame.

"Mmmmmmh.." He moaned.

"Teeheehee!" Naegi giggled happily as Kirigiri petted her. She had absolutely no idea what anyone was talking about, only that it sounded funny. "'Tay!" She replied. Ikusaba gave her a soft smile as she leaned closer to her.

"Your mommies will see you soon, alright?" She told her, giving her a small peck on the forehead. With Naegi's age being what it was, and how she mistook both Ikusaba and Kirigiri for her mothers, no one found it odd or strange as Ikusaba gave her a kiss goodbye. Kirigiri gritted her teeth slightly, irritated she hadn't thought of that.

"Hmhmhm, say bye-bye Naegi." Asahina told her as she walked away. The two girls smiled as they watched Naegi wave, closing and opening her hands repeatedly as a wave.

"Buh-bye." She said with a smile. The two girls smiled back as they waved with the others. Now all they had to look forward to was the excruciating game known to man:

The waiting game...

…

…

…

A/N :Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Christ almight X/….We uhhhh we have technical difficulties here, folks. I never had this problem happen before, so the only thing I can assume from this point is that it is somehow in part because of my drug addiction, I mean satanic rituals, I mean back alley deals, I mean… On second thought forget what I mean, I think I'm making it worse…

Lol, seriously though XP For the first time ever, surprisingly, I'm barely even halfway done with this thing X/ The request was for Naegi's regression from Monokuma, and then for her to socialize with Kirigiri and Ikusaba, Asahina, Owada, and Yamada separately, as well as another scene for after, but that'll remain a secret ^^. Bottom line though, is that this is taking INCREDIBLY long, for whatever reason it's happening (my autism is mutating to a whole new level T_P…) and I haven't even gotten to the "Free-time" events XP. Ugghhh gawwwd…

This is definitely my longest "chp" in history, and to keep my many, MANY fans happy ^^

Janitor: *continues sweeping for several minutes before looking on stage* Eh, you're still here? Sorry, didn't know this room was occupied, it was incredibly empty…

A/N: OG GO TO HELL!

Point is, I'm doing the first half of this one today to keep the fans satisfied, and will be (hopefully) posting the 2nd half tomorrow ^^. Until then, I apologize for the delay, blame my over 15K+ work atm for the delay, but I'll hopefully have some progress by tomorrow ^^ It'll also be the first time I've done a bonus ep in 2 parts, sooooooooo whoa : /…. Anyway, like and rev if you can, and look forward to the rest tomorrow.


	23. Bonus Episode 4: Chibi Naegi Part 2

A/N: Just a note, I don't care if it seems rushed towards the end, I'd like to see your practical 14K words-in-a-day-Fanfic, and THEN complain to me X(! Geeeeh so tiirrrred T_T…. Enjoy ^^ Today's contents consist of each and everyone's "Free Time Events" with the new Chibi/Toddler Naegi ^^

_***Asahina's Time...***_

"C'mon sweetie, it's ok." Asahina cooed softly, gesturing for the frightened Naegi to come over.

It wasn't too surprising for the little girl to be scared at the time. Aside from the fact she was separated from her "mothers", as expected with Asahina, they were currently in the pool area at the moment. Any child around Naegi's age would be terrified of being surrounded by a large heavy pool of water like her, especially if some form of her memory was intact from what happened in the past.

Like any athletic swimmer, Asahina was clothed in a genuine swimmer's one piece outfit which managed to cover her whole body. It was a typical wear for someone like Asahina to use. Being the traditional swimmer she was, it was natural that she had a personal outfit she took whenever she went swimming. What was different about all this was the additional figure who was swimming with her this time.

Naegi nibbled on the tip of her thumb nervously as she looked at the water in front of Asahina in fear. Like Asahina, she too, was dressed in a single one piece-styled swim suit. In part thanks to Monokuma for finding one, she was now preferably dressed in a pink one piece swimsuit, which fit to match the young girl's new size.

In addition to this, she was also sporting a swim diaper, which was evident by the bulge around her waist. It was still unsure of just how much muscle control of her bladder that Naegi maintained since her de-aging. It was mostly just a manner of being cautious at this point. Which is also why she was sporting a pair of yellow water wings on her arms.

As for the situation at hand, it was one to be expected. Naegi was scared of coming near the water, and Asahina wanted to show her the fun of swimming around and playing. Little Naegi, however, didn't want much of anything to do with it.

After all, she had JUST been separated from her mothers, with the ten minutes that have passed being a new record for how long she's been separated for, and had no idea what was going on, or where she was at the moment. For that matter, with her current mindset being what it was, she barely even knew her self-proclaimed parents were in different rooms in the same building.

So it was no surprise Asahina had been spending the last several minutes trying to ease Naegi over to her.

Asahina herself absolutely adored the new little Naegi. With such a bubbly personality, it was no surprise that Asahina had a fascination with little kids , even those around Naegi's current age. Everything about them made her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, from their simple antics to the way they squeal with laughter.

Growing up in her personal life, Asahina found herself off and on having jobs around the neighborhood whenever she was trying to raise money. From those jobs, she often had he notable babysitting job from time to time, earning money for watching little kids while their parents were out. Sometimes, she would even spend over a day babysitting some children if their parents were out on business trips or a anniversary vacation.

It was during those times when she grew fascinated with children. From all the money she earned, and all the children she befriended and took care of, it was one of the better summer jobs she's ever had. It was also pretty easy for her too. With her personality as it is, she managed to get along with the children pretty well.

This is why she absolutely wanted to spend as much quality time with Naegi as she could, and by doing one of her favorite activities too. The only trouble she did have was bringing Naegi over to the pool. She didn't want to force the young girl without the fear of frightening her more, but she wanted to show Naegi that it was safe at least.

She wasn't even in the water, save for her feet. She was sitting on the edge of the pool waiting patiently for Naegi who was standing a few feet away from her.

"It's okay Naegi, come here." She cooed again.

"Mmmhmmh..." Naegi continued to whimper as she nibbled her thumb. She already had goose bumps around her from feeling the cold water under her feet. Either that or it was just from the cold air surrounding the pool room.

"It's alright... I'll keep you save." Asahina gestured over once more. After waiting about another several seconds, Asahina smiled as Naegi finally made her way over to her. "That's it, good girl." She encouraged as Naegi gently took her hand with her tiny fingers.

With her fingers in her grip, Asahina slowly guided Naegi over to her side. Once she made her way right next to her, Asahina carefully lifted and held Naegi in both her arms, the small toddler clinging her small arms tightly around her neck.

"There, good girl, such a good girl." Asahina continued to coo as she stroke Naegi's head. The small girl in her arms didn't bother to look around. Her face was already buried into Asahina's chest, as if trying to hide from whatever was frightening her.

"Nnnghhhh!" Naegi whimpered again,

"Shhhhh, it's ok, I have you." Asahina shushed softly. "We're going into the pool now, ok?" She told her. She wasn't expecting so much of a response from her, so she didn't bother waiting.

Not wanting to frighten the child anymore than she was, she decided against simply jumping into the pool right away. Instead, with one hand supporting Naegi from under her bottom and her right on the ledge, she gently eased her way into the pool, being sure to go in slowly to keep the child from getting any more frightened.

With a gentle push from the ground, she eased her way into the water, sinking deeper into it until the water was up to Naegi's legs. As expected from the small child, Asahina could easily feel as Naegi's grip tightened around her neck. Whether it was just from the fear of the water itself, or the chill from first feeling the water as it touched her skin, all Asahina could tell was that her body was shaking, trembling a bit as she took in the water around her.

With a small chuckle to herself, she gently pushed her way away from the edge as she moved off closer to the center of the pool. Just to stay on the safe side, she made sure they were only on the shallow end of the pool at the time. She didn't want anything happening to Naegi, and neither did anyone else.

Smiling to herself, she began to gently tap the water, splash it around towards Naegi a little. "See Naegi? It's alright." She said softly. She waited until the toddler turned her head a little. She was glancing at the water in a frightened state from the corner of her eye. "It's just water, it won't hurt you." She assured.

She watched as Naegi slowly raised her head from Asahina's chest. She still made sure to hold tightly to her neck though, fearing for whatever could happen if she let go. Asahina found it cute as Naegi slowly tapped the water before flinching, waiting for some form of reaction to occur. It was fun watching her warm up to the water over time, seeing as the little girl appeared to be overcoming her fear. It only took a single minute before Naegi was splashing at the water with laughter.

This wasn't the first time Asahina eased a little child like Naegi into the water. One thing she learned to help with the easing was to help the little one feel safe and secure around the pool like they would in their own bath tub. In no time at all, Naegi had completely forgotten about her previous fear of the water, splashing the water with both her arms and giggling. Asahina made sure to keep a tight grip around her waist to keep her from accidentally falling under.

"Hehehhehe!" Naegi giggled as she splashed.

"Hahaha!" Even Asahina was enjoying the fun Naegi was having, closing her eyes slightly as Naegi splashed the water all around. "You're getting me all wet, silly!" She stated, tickling Naegi under her chin.

"Gehehehe!" Naegi squirmed around a bit, trying to push away the torturous tickle.

This is exactly what Asahina wanted upon discovering Naegi's current state. Just some time to spend with one of her best friends in her favorite place, and doing her favorite thing. She did feel a little bad that she only had about fifty more minutes to spend time with her. It took awhile to get Naegi dressed for the swim, and it would take a little while again to dry off completely and redress when it was over. She didn't regret it though.

She prepared herself mentally now as she readied to do what she really wanted to do since she got here- take Naegi for a ride.

"Hey Naegi, you wanna go for a ride?" She asked. Naegi titled her head curiously as she blinked.

"Wide?" She repeated. Asahina could tell she wasn't questioning what she said. She was just mimicking Asahina again like she did in the lunchroom earlier.

Taking the initiative to nod to Naegi instead, she gently guided Naegi behind her back, holding onto both her hands until she was holding onto her neck from behind her head. Taking both of Naegi's hands once more, she slowly leaned herself up in the pool until she was floating on her stomach. Arching forward, she positioned her body so it was floating straight, Naegi's bottom sitting on her back while holding onto her hands. From this position, she was directed towards the other end of the entire pool from where she was.

"Ok, now hold on now, ok?" She told her.

Like before, she didn't wait for a response. With one foot after the other, she steadily began swimming to the other end of the pool, moving slowly across the water.

...At least that was the idea behind it.

What started out as a simple streamline swim ended up turning into a raging river of speed as she took off like a motorboat. Doing what earned her the name Super High School Level Swimmer, she sped across the waters like a raging rapid, moving off in a burst of speed towards the edge. She didn't even stop it at one side either. By the time she reached one side, she simply bolted towards the other end once more.

It was something outside of Asahina's control. Kicking her legs back and forth, feeling the water splash across her face, holding onto Naegi closely. She was doing too many of her favorite things at once to pay attention to anything else. She felt like a true mermaid at that moment, and she was having the time of her life.

She couldn't help it at all. She was practically returning to the roots of her title. She felt herself being at so much peace at the time, what with how she was doing multiple things she enjoyed at once. For the first moment in a long while, she felt like there was nothing that could bother her at this time.

That didn't mean she was being lazy either. She made sure to keep a good grip up on Naegi the entire time. The swimming she was doing at that moment felt just as important her dear Naegi who she was holding onto. She wasn't about to let her feelings get in the way of both spending a good time with Naegi and getting a little swimming done!

Although, it could be debated about how much fun she was having. It was starting to reach the point where her fun might have been going a little too far. What simply started out as doing this for fun ended up turning into a nightmare for the young Naegi who couldn't keep up with Asahina's speed.

In fact, it was about a full five minutes before Asahina finally came to a stop. Taking a deep breath to relax herself, she sighed as she leaned herself upwards again.

"Huff!" She sighed closing her eyes. "That was quite a swim, wouldn't you say Naegi?...Naegi?" She turned her head as she pulled Naegi to her front. "Naegi?"

Asahina truly knew no bounds when it came to playing with children. Nor when it came time to ease up and relax a little. In a rather interesting detail after Asahina's latest swim, Naegi was nowhere near ready to respond.

Looking at her with a twinge of fear, Naegi's eyes were nothing more than complete swirls at this point. Her head was twirling in place as her head bobbed back and forth, drool running down her mouth. If you could see what Naegi saw at that moment, you would easily see the stars swirling above Naegi's face.

"Naegi?" Asahina mumbled worriedly. She tried shaking Naegi a little to get any form of response. "Naegi!"

She groaned to herself as she understood the situation. Naegi couldn't handle the speed at which she swam. Topping that off with how she ended up turning every thirty seconds after reaching each end, it was easy to see how the toddler would get dizzy after awhile.

Something told Asahina her little playtime with Naegi was suddenly cut short.

...

...

...

_***Owada's Time...* **_

"97..." Owada grunted as the sweat dripped from his head.

"Weeeee!" Naegi giggled with joy.

"98..."

"Gehahaha!"

"99..." Owada grunted as the sweat poured down his face. His eyes squeezed shut as he pushed himself to it's limits. With one final breath, he lowered himself to the ground once more. "100! Ugghh!" He groaned as he collapsed on the floor. This proved to be nothing more than pure amusement to the young Naegi who was currently sitting on his back.

Back in her previous outfit once more, it was now Owada's turn with the regressed girl. And believe it or not, he was surprisingly fine with her.

Against everyone's beliefs about letting the Super High School Level Biker Gang Leader take charge of a little girl as young as Naegi, he proved to be quite the softy when it came to playing with the small lady. Not once in his presence did the little girl end up crying, much to Ikusaba's shock.

She was currently spying on her little Naegi, refusing to take her eyes off of her. It wasn't like she didn't distrust Owada around Naegi. To be more accurate, she distrusted everyone around Naegi while she was like this. She would have rather taken Naegi and keep her company for the day compared to sharing her about like this.

It would also be a lie to say Kirigiri didn't want to spy on her either. Even if she was more in self-control than Ikusaba was, she wanted nothing more than to enjoy the sight of watching Naegi playing with everybody. It brought her some sense of joy, seeing a small girl like her laughing in a place like this. It was enough to make one forget all the troubles surrounding this place.

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't occupy herself with watching Naegi the entire time. She wanted to, that was for sure. However, Ikusaba's skill of persuasion apparently managed to get to the likes of her of all people.

Despite Kirigiri's feelings towards it, Ikusaba managed to convince her that while everyone was preoccupied with Naegi, and Ikusaba wasn't able to interact with her, this was the perfect opportunity to do some much needed investigation of the school. With the assistance of Oogami and Celes, the trio traveled around the school to search for various clues of the mysteries surrounding it.

While on the subject, both Celes and Oogami were surprised at the sudden occurrence that befell Naegi. While Celes showed little to no interest, a comment that could be seen as a lie from the Ultimate Gambler, Oogami herself seemed a little bit interested in the idea of meeting with the new Naegi.

But like Kirigiri explained to Ikusaba earlier, because neither of them were at the lunchroom at the time of the compromise, neither of them could play with her during the day since everyone was sharing. Kirigiri did at least have the kindness to allow Oogami to play with her during breakfast the following morning. Kirigiri felt that if someone like Owada would be capable of watching a toddler like her, then Oogami should be just fine.

That wasn't to say Owada wasn't keeping the chibi entertained as well. As matter of fact, Naegi seemed to be thrilled during her playtime with him. Being the gang leader that he was, he wasn't so knowledgeable on how to entertain her, at least when it came to being locked in the school like this. To pass the time, he decided to show her several feats of strength.

This went from lifting the table nearly fifty times with her on it, which she enjoyed, throwing empty bottles against the wall which she partook in doing (obviously not as far or destructive of course), and ending with his current activity, which involved doing one-hundred pushups while she rode on his back.

The only difference between this and the table is that she asked him to do this several times now. It wasn't surprising at all to see the Biker Gang leader himself to be sweating in exhaustion by this point, especially since he's only had her for the last half hour.

Now as for Owada himself, he really didn't mind the things he played to entertain Naegi. Sure, they were taxing on his muscles to some degree, and now he was collapsed to the floor while Naegi pulled on his hair for him to go again. Nonetheless, he didn't mind any of it.

Nobody could really understand Owada's strange interest with Naegi, and even Owada himself was a bit confused. From what he could come up with, he believed it had something to do with his dog. Seeing Naegi in an always playful attitude like this, it reminded him of the good times in the past when his dog was still around. Of course he wasn't comparing Naegi to a dog, he just sort of saw the playful spark in her his dog used to have when it was alive.

On a rather ironic note, his dog also had the habit of tugging at Owada's hair when he wanted to play.

"'Gen! 'Gen!" The little girl lisped, filled with excitement and surprising energy to keep playing. She was hopping up and down on her bottom, urging him to play the same game again, which would be the fourth time if he did. Groaning, he opened his eyes slightly as he reached around his back, gently raising her off of him and onto the floor in front of his head.

"Look, chick, can't we do something else?" He moaned. Ikusaba covered her lips as she let out a small chuckle. The leader of the city's most notorious Biker Gang, beaten and exhausted from the two-year-old's excruciating _demands_.

What a little tyrant Naegi was being.

Said tyrant just tilted her head curiously, chewing on her finger a bit. "P'ay?" She lisped again, keeping her fingertip her mouth. Owada groaned again as he slowly got off the ground, sitting cross-legged in front of her.

"Let's just play something else, you know?" He cricked his neck while saying. There were some stiff points throughout his neck and shoulders, having been forced to keep his neck still to ensure Naegi wouldn't fall off while she was riding.

"P'ay..." Naegi muttered again looking down. Owada couldn't tell what the toddler was currently thinking. Aside from missing the same perkiness that Asahina had and the mindset of a two-year-old, he didn't know what to expect from kids. He knew they were completely different from dogs. That about sums up his knowledge of kids. But he was at least gentle and careful enough around them.

Being one of the things that women cherish the most, his older brother taught him in the past about being careful and considerate around children. Much like when a woman is present within the room or otherwise, he always needed to show respect and care for the younger generation. A man who wouldn't care or mistreated a child was nothing more than trash.

In fact, his brother made sure to drill into his mind, that people who mistreated kids were less than trash. With his honor at stake, and the general fact this was his friend he was taking care of, he made it his mission to take great care of Naegi while under his supervision. The only challenge now was finding ways to pass the time in front of the toddler.

That didn't seem to trouble the young toddler though. Surprisingly taking only a short amount of time to decide, she plucked her finger from her mouth as she clapped excitedly.

"Patty tate!" She cheered. Owada raised a brow momentarily, trying to translate what Naegi just lisped. It dawned on him easily, but the answer made him blush with a pink shade across his cheeks.

"P-Patty cake?" He clarified hesitantly. Goose bumps formed along his arms when the toddler nodded.

"Patty tate! Patty tate!" She cheered, closing her eyes while clapping in excitement.

Why was life so cruel?

Owada quickly looked away as he scratched his head. "Ehhh y-you sure you don't want to do anything else?" He kind of hoped. Naegi blinked curiously at his response.

"P... Patty tate?" She repeated, clapping once.

"W-Why don't we take a break or something? O-Or tell you what, why don't I fix you up a snack or-?" He tried to offer.

He had nothing against the game itself personally, it was just another matter of his honor being on the line. He couldn't tell if it would count since he's just trying to entertain the small girl, but playing a childish kiddie game like Patty cake? He couldn't possibly do such a ridiculous thing!

It wasn't a concern of his self-pride or anything, but the pride from his fellow gang members. What would they say if they saw him playing such a ridiculous game without caring for the reason? It would have been such a humiliating display of manhood. His gang members wouldn't just not let him live it down, they might disband completely! What sort of maniacal force could possibly drive him to change his mind?!

"Beeehgheehh..." Owada's pupils shrank as he looked back to the sound of the whine.

_"Fuck!"_ He shouted in his mind.

Much to his misfortune, he would not leave this moment without somehow breaking his man's honor by the end of the day. Sitting right in front of him, staring at him with wide opened eyes, was Naegi herself, who was now tearing to the point where her eyes were filled with tears. This was bad no matter which way he tried to look at it.

He officially had two choices at this point: Either keep his dignity and pride, or make a girl cry. The results of both were terrible and unavoidable, but he did at least know which was the worse of the two outcomes. It didn't matter how else he tried turning the situation around, he would be forced to play the childish Patty cake with Naegi.

There was no way he couldn't at this moment. He would end up breaking three of the most sacred codes of a Man's Honor all at once. Not only would he end up mistreating a kid, he would also end up making both a girl cry, and a child cry, all in one. To break three sacred codes of a Man's Honor simultaneously was truly blasphemous. It would be a fate far worse to him than any execution Monokuma could ever possibly put him through.

With a grumble to himself, he quickly scanned throughout the room. Monokuma would definitely see him through the security cameras, but he didn't care. It was the others he was worried about. He wanted to maintain as much dignity as he possibly could, so he couldn't allow even one of the others to possibly catch him doing this.

Too bad for him Ikusaba slid out of view briefly as she noticed him looking around. She didn't know what to expect to be honest. She saw that Naegi looked ready to cry which irked her inside, but she couldn't tell what his next move was. Knowing his man's honor was on the line, whether he went through with it, there was about a 50/50 chance of it actually happening.

Yet that 50 proved just enough for her amusement.

"Tch...f-fine." He mumbled with a deep shaded blush. He set his hands out flatly in front of her. To his relief, she stopped just before she was about to cry. "J-Just promise me you won't remember this when you change back to normal.." He muttered quietly. Mounds of sweat were pouring from his forehead, the embarrassment this brought him weighing him down too heavily. Opening her mouth as if startled, the young Naegi looked at the hands with excitement and joy.

"Yaaa!" She cheered, waving her little arms in the air. Even though he was finally going through with it, his dignity and pride would forever be broken as she started playing. "Patty tate! Patty tate! Patty tate! Patty tate!" She squeaked.

This game didn't exactly go the way he expected. What he thought was just going to be a basic game of Patty cake, it turned out to be a little less formal than he had intended. Then again, he forgot he was dealing with a two-year-old.

In the normal version of the game, there was usually a rhythm-like pattern to the sequences of pats. Usually, you would pat one hand with one of yours, then clap. Then you would pat the other one with your other hand, and clap again. Finally, you would pat both hands against one another and clap again before repeating the sequence over and over again. This usually lasted until the song came to an end.

However, in this two-year-olds version, there appeared to be only one sequence. All she would do is repeatedly flail her hands at the same time on his hands and keep repeating the words "Patty tate", which was obviously a lisp of the phrase "Patty cake". That was all she did. She didn't stop to clap her hands, and she never clapped one hand alone. She would just keep clapping both hands repeatedly, to Owada's expectation, until she finally ended it herself.

Despite the game being a little bit off, Owada actually didn't mind this outcome at all. In fact, he actually enjoyed himself a little. It was just nice and relaxing not having to use his muscles constantly just to entertain the small girl, and sitting like this gave him plenty of time to relax for awhile. And he actually found a bit of joy out of watching Naegi playing this game by herself for the most part.

She was definitely unpredictable, another aspect she shared with his dog at one point. Seeing Naegi like this, all happy and bubbly, it actually got him thinking on his own future. What would his life be like if he ever ended up having kids? Would he find himself sitting on the carpet one day playing patty cake with his own children? He actually didn't mind that possibility. Just seeing her smiling expression like this brought him at ease, enjoying the sight as she played by herself.

At least he was enjoying the sight before it happened.

_*click!* _

"Huh?" Owada turned to the source of the clicking noise.

His jaw dropped.

Leaning against the doorway was a sly smiling Ikusaba who didn't care about her presence being known anymore by this point. In her hands, she held a very powerful weapon against the Gang Leader: a camera. A fully, functional, digital camera, which operated at peak capacity.

He didn't need to look around anymore to know whether or not it came from her. He didn't even care about where she found a camera, not knowing if she even had one at all to begin with. All he cared about was the knowing grin on her face as she looked back between him and the camera. A grin that only got a bit wider as Naegi looked up to her excited.

"Mommy!" She yelled excitingly as she stood. Ikusaba chuckled softly as Naegi ran towards her with a waddle. It was so appealing to see her hugging onto her legs like that.

"Hey sweetie." Ikusaba greeted back. She gently picked her up in her arms. She nuzzled her head against Naegi's as the little girl buried her head into Ikusaba's left shoulder. "Thanks to you, mommy got a very interesting picture." She gestured back to the camera once more.

Owada as lost for words. He was screwed. End of story.

"Y-You wouldn't...please..." He wobbled as he stood up in disbelief.

"Hey, who's that sweetie?" Ikusaba asked the little girl, pointing to Naegi in the picture with her thumb. Naegi nibbled on the tip of her finger as she stared at the picture of her and Owada.

"...Eh!" She gasped excitedly. " Ih'd me!" She realized.

"That's right, it is 'chu! You'we so smawt.." Ikusaba cooed, nuzzling her nose against Naegi's head again. She smirked looking back to the picture. "It's a nice, wonderful, clear, picture, of you, and the big, mean, biker gang leader who acts all ferocious. He's a real kitty in this picture, isn't he?"

"'itty!" Naegi cheered with excitement.

"Yup, a big, soft kitty." She sighed in relief as she started listing off the endless possibilities of blackmails. "I can juuuuust picture all the people who know him that'll loooove seeing this picture." She teased. "Like his mother, and his biker gang...Ooh! What if he had a girlfriend? Wouldn't she just love to see him like-" She froze looking back at Owada.

There was no explicit detail that stuck out. If Owada showed even the slightest ounce of the rage building up inside of him, it would have terrified the young Naegi for the rest of the day. Maybe even after she changed back too. Just looking in his eyes though was enough for Ikusaba to realize how far she might have accidentally pushed him.

Veins of anger were popping from numerous parts of his forehead. His pupils told nothing but utter and complete hate and rage. Just from looking at the skin around the veins on his hands, she could see the muscles bulging out in plain sight as he squeezed his fists angrily. There was no way she could handle this blind fury.

Any amount of training she had in the past would never prepare her for what he was bottling up inside. And she knew the only thing keeping him from lashing out right at that moment was the little person she was holding in her arms. And even that wouldn't last forever.

"Uhhh s-sweetie, let's play a game." Ikusaba suggested with a nervous smile. "I-It's uhhh...I-It's called stay here and play with the camera while mommy goes somewhere else."

She placed Naegi gently on the ground as she handed her the camera. She knew Owada wouldn't try anything frightening or dangerous as long as Naegi had the camera, but it wouldn't do anything to protect her. Naegi looked at the camera curiously as she sat down.

"Eeeeeh!" Naegi mumbled as she played with the numerous buttons on it. She looked up briefly as she saw Ikusaba running down the hallway in a panic. No sooner had she did Owada burst in a mad dash after her, being careful not to run into Naegi as he passed her. Not knowing what was going on at the time, Naegi just smiled as she opened and closed her hand in place like a wave. "Bye bye!" She squeaked.

With the two out of her view, Naegi turned her attention back to the camera in her hands once more. There were so many pretty and shiny buttons for her to experiment with. She even somehow managed to access the gallery function on the camera, seeing displays of numerous past pictures that were taken with the camera. All the same, Naegi had no idea what she was looking at, only that it looked like fun and made her laugh.

One interesting button she came across was one that popped up on the screen of the camera. She had no idea what it did, but it would secretly end up making Owada cherish Naegi for the rest of his life. It was a strange magical button called "Delete All"...

...

...

...

_***Yamada's time...***_

*_Scscscscscscsc-*_

The toddler looked at Yamada curiously as she sat on the table. For the past half hour, she has been doing nothing but sitting there and watching the "Fatty" scribbling things on a blank piece of paper. She had no idea what he was doing, only that if she moved at all from this point, she would lose the "Waiting Game" he proposed.

There wasn't much to say about the current scene in front of the two. It was simply that for the last half hour. Inside the lunchroom, Yamada happened to be drawing something of great importance, at least to him. He couldn't afford a single movement or twitch from Naegi as she sat there with her legs spread out, staring at the paper with curiosity.

Luckily, it wasn't too much work for him to convince the young Naegi to keep still. All he had to do was convince him that this waiting game had a fantastically awesome prize at the end if she won. She was more than eager to win that prize, with the obvious intention that it must have been candy. What child wouldn't want an amazing prize like that?

With a scribble and a few pokes, the steam finally lifted from Yamada's swift-moving hand, setting the pencil to the side of the paper. Lifting it up in front of him, his eyes sparkled as he admired his work. It might have truly been his greatest work yet. Eyeing his finished product once more, he kissed it mentally as he took a relaxing breath.

"Phew! It is COM-PLE-TEEEED!" He announced with cheer. "Behold, my masterpiece!" He showed the young toddler with pride and courage. Naegi oohed at the creation presented to her.

Coming from someone like Yamada, it wasn't too surprising at what he did. He created an entire sketch of Naegi, right down to the very detail. The eyes were shaded with the chibi's brightness, her hair was length right down to the exact measurement, and the posture in which she sat was copied to a perfect match. Being the infamous Super High School Level Doujinshi, or fanfic in other words, he didn't just leave it with just being a sketch of her either.

He also had the time to fill in a selenic peaceful background all around her. From where she sat, it appeared as if she was just sitting on a small hilltop, still in the same position in which she stared at him. The sky was evenly shaded all across above her, clouds representing the faded pieces of the clear blue sky, albeit one colored in stencil.

The hilltop itself wasn't even without it's own amount of serenity and peace. The grass was nicely cut and trimmed, with a single flower actually in front of the young Naegi. From the position she sat, it appeared as if she was staring right at it instead of Yamada. And the wildlife of the forest was made aware of her presence, as a single, cartoonish, bunny could be seen from behind Naegi, staring at her with a twitchy nose.

Naegi looked at the large piece of paper, grasping both sides of it with her tiny friends. Yamada was pleased to see her fascinated expression as she eyed the paper. The sense of her wonder as she stared at his thirty-minute masterpiece, inspecting it of all details and work. He could easily foresee the look of excitement she was about to have.

All was according to plan!

Operation: Attract the Feminine Variety of Ladies was currently underway as his plan continued without a hitch! All the components were in place as he needed. He paid close attention to Naegi's expression for any sign of change to joy or disgust. To his splendor, she looked at the paper excitedly, thrilled at seeing something on it that made her squeal with numerous giggles.

His glasses gleamed in the ceiling lights as he let out a puff through his nose. There were no flaws now in his perfectly decorated plan!

Step 1- draw something of wonder and selflessness for a small adorable child. Step 2- ensure that the child is happy with giggling glee to make sure she was certainly happy. Step 3- wait around until a hot beautiful and sexy lady came and saw how happy Yamada made the toddler and fall madly in love with his manly love and care for children all around. Step 4- marry said beautiful and sexy lady above a hilltop with a view of a sunset in the background. And Step 5- live happily ever after as Mr. and Mrs. Yamada.

Now all he awaited was for the words of approval from the one person he needed to fulfill his plans.

"Well, do you like?" Yamada asked, rubbing his hands excited. In his mind, he was flexing himself with a victorious pose. _"All according to plan! ALL ACORDING TO PLAN!"_ He kept shouting in his head.

"Eeeeeh!" Naegi giggled happily. "Binnies!" She lisped, hopping up and down from where she sat with excitement.

"...Excuse me?" Drips of sweat started running down his head as he began to worry about his plan. "W-What about the portrait? I-It's right down to the very detail in-"

"Binnies!" She squeaked again, hugging the paper as if the bunny was alive on it.

Drat! How could this happen to him of all people?! Life was so unfair!

Of course, he can't believe he missed this ultimate detail of his plan- with Naegi's current mindset, she wouldn't care about the possible flowers, the thoroughly decorated sketch of her, or the atmosphere in which he surrounded her in within the picture. No, the one thing she only cared about most was the single small bit of the picture behind her, which included a simple rabbit. Not the fact the picture looked just like her, not the fact he spent his hard time and effort to perfect his latest creation, just the single bunny she saw behind her in it.

Despite this initial setback, he supposed he could work with it. After all, all he needed was just the child's excitement and joy which stemmed from the picture. As long as she was happy, and he had proof of what made her happy, all was still going according to-

*_rip-rip-rip-rip-rip-rip-rip*_

Yamada's jaw dropped in horror and agony. "Egheheuhgghhh-!" He couldn't utter a word as his throat was frozen in horror.

His bright and beautiful creation was now being ripped to shreds by the two year old. She didn't just rip it down the middle, she ripped it all across and around too. She tore it piece after piece until very small shreds were all that remained in her hand. Some of the shreds she ended up tearing and throwing to the sides, some just falling out of her clumsy hands.

Gathering it all up once she was finished, she tossed it within the air above her. The shredded remains fell across the surrounding area, some of it even sprinkling across herself and Yamada's head as it poured. "Snowy!" She cheered. It was a rather interesting sight to see the two-year-old become so creative as to suddenly tear the pieces away as to make it snow. It did display some sign of former intelligence from her old mind, and it also displayed Yamada who was crying on the inside.

His perfect, and well thought out plan, was now destroyed by the mind of a two-year-old.

Naegi one, Yamada zero.

"Nooooooooo!" Yamada cried with his face flat on the table. Naegi just continued to giggle and laugh as she continued to play with the shredded remains.

To be fair, his plan wouldn't have worked even if he wanted it to anyway. Like before with Owada, Ikusaba once again spied on her current duo with a smile. Unlike previously, this time she was in the company of Kirigiri, who also took the liberty of spying on the two as well. Having spent a good amount of her time investigating the school with Celes and Oogami, she felt she provided a sufficient amount of spy-work for the remaining students. On top of that, she wasn't about to let Ikusaba hog all the spying, especially since this was the last two hours before they both had Naegi for the rest of the time.

The third party of their group, however, didn't care about getting Naegi back at all. While she wouldn't have minded playing with the toddler once again, Asahina was content for the remainder of the time simply watching Naegi play. With her head lower to the floor, since all three girls were peering in from the same side, Asahina awed happily as she watched Naegi have fun.

It was also for this reason why Yamada's plan would also fail. With all three girls already on top of Yamada's "Master Plan", no one would fall for his scheme anymore, even if Naegi hadn't destroyed his work. Even if they didn't know about his plan ahead of time, they also wouldn't have fallen for it, since Yamada was never the one to put on a good act without the sly attitude. He would have made it obvious to anyone that he was just trying to sly his way into a woman's heart with his known cheekiness.

His plan was a failure from the start.

"Hmhmhm, Naegi's such a troublemaker, isn't she?" Asahina squeezed her face with a flush. She was completely in an hypnotized trance of adoring Naegi. Kirigiri had a small grin on her face as she watched.

"She certainly has a creative way of playing, that's for sure." Kirigiri commented. She was rather surprised how Naegi used the paper to make "snow" like that.

"I actually wouldn't have mind seeing the picture to be honest." Ikusaba admitted with a sigh. For some strange reason, the only picture she did have of Naegi ended up getting deleted somehow. She couldn't tell if she accidentally clicked on something herself or if she just forgot to save the picture, it was just gone.

All three girls made sure to remain silent as they observed their adorable playmate. They didn't want Yamada to find out they were spying on them like Ikusaba did with Owada. It wasn't a case of him just finding out or anything. The last thing they wanted was for him to get the wrong impression and believe that they were just spying on them for his amusement, like some fantasy where the boy or girl spied on the person they loved in those animes and mangas. From the Ultimate Fanfic Creator, he would indefinitely misinterpret the scene.

The small giggling girl looked down at the large man with face on the table. With his head angled the way it was, his ahoge was pointed straight out towards him. What curious child wouldn't want to grab something that was so pointy and interesting when it was right in front of him?

"Nngghhh!" She grumbled quietly, pulling at the pointy arrow in front of her. Yamada would never expect such a fragile thing to have such surprising strength as he yelped.

"OWWWW!" He screamed, lifting his head up as he rubbed it soothingly. He groaned inside with a frown. "Mmhhhh... Video games make life look so much better." He commented. He noticed the curious look growing on Naegi's face.

"Vidi...gem?" She tried repeating.

"Huff, oh Naegi..." He mumbled as he slouched in his chair. "Such a fragile mind to not know the joys of the 2D world. The joys of beating a final boss to finishing a Dating Simulator with a good ending." He patted her head briefly with sympathy. "You might never know the joys of such a game."

"Ditty sims?" Naegi nibbled on her finger with a lisp.

"Yeah, you-..." He paused as he rubbed his head. "On second thought, you might never know. They're just things that guys like me use to experience what it would be like to see a girl's breasts, always knowing we'll never get the real thing." He explained.

The spying trio was taken back by this a little. They didn't feel comfortable of Yamada talking about a bodily subject to such a cute toddler, but they knew she wouldn't even remember this or anything else once she changed back to normal. They still gave each other a perplexed look, unable to tell if they should feel concerned or not about this.

"Do you think we should stop him?" Ikusaba asked quietly.

"I... don't think it'll matter much." Kirigiri said with a shrug. "If her memory wipes anyway, it won't make much of a difference. Besides, she's a girl herself. It won't matter as much since she's the same gender as us."

"Yeah..." Asahina was still in her trance-like state, not even caring about the topic of the conversation. "Now let's just continue watching her..." She was completely out of it.

"B'ests?" Naegi repeated again with confusion.

"Yeah, you know..." He felt slightly awkward with talking about such a topic to such a young mind. At the same time, he guessed it wouldn't hurt to talk and get some things off his chest, since she wouldn't know what they were talking about anyway. "Breasts like...boobies and boobs. Things losers like me will never experience in life..." He moaned.

None of the girls enjoyed the choice of words he went with, but at the same time, they couldn't help feel a little sorry for the poor geek.

"Boos..." Naegi nibbled on her finger's nail briefly as if she was trying to think. With a sudden gasp, she squeaked. "Boo-boos!" She giggled. Yamada couldn't help but find the remark humorous, coming from such a young child.

"Heh, yeah boo-boos." He rested his arm on the table as he leaned his head on his hand. "The beautiful things all girls have, like Master Aoi Asahina's." He took a deep breath before sighing again. To him, a geek such as himself would never get to experience or so much as look at such bountiful treasures. The conversation was starting to make Naegi giggle with laughter.

"A'heema!" She squealed, having some feign memory of her self-titled "Aunt". "Big boo-boos!" She added.

"...!" A flash of light sparkled against Yamada's eyes as the world lit up to him again. It was only a brief sparkle of hope, but perhaps it was all he needed to ignite his fire again. "...Young Master Makoto Naegi, do you by any chance remember what she looked like?" He wondered. His hands moved robotically as he obtained the stencil he used earlier and another piece of paper from the table.

"Huh?" Asahina suddenly snapped out of her trance-like state. The mentioning of her name in the same conversation as a girl's breasts kicked her brain into a defensive state, snapping her out of the trance. "Wait, what are they talking about?" She muttered. She didn't know why, but she had a blush growing on her face, deepening redder and redder.

"This might be bad..." Ikusaba commented. Part of her was a little curious though as to where this conversation was heading.

"Eheh!" Naegi nodded with giggles in her mouth. "Big boo-boos!" She repeated again, waving her arms with fun. The expression on Yamada's face was laughable to the regressed Naegi, who found fun in watching him continuing to make such strange and interesting faces. At the same time, Yamada's hand worked as if he was possessed, never losing his posture or expression, as he began drawing outline and detail of Aoi Asahina.

It was all coming together! The perfect chance- no. The opportunity of a lifetime! Why had he not thought of it before? It was so obvious to him now!

He knew that Naegi and Asahina visited the pool area a few hours ago. During that time, he had completely missed the idea that Naegi would have bore witness to the most sacred ritual a girl could ever preform for a man: Undressing. Even in her child-like state, Naegi should have at least a fraction of a memory of what Asahina looked like during that sacred time. He didn't need key details either, just the _inspiration_.

As long as she provided the short bits here and there, Yamada would work out the major _details_ that his next creation would need. It was a chance to peer into heaven, perhaps something greater, as he now had a semi-functioning recorder right in front of his eyes. This was an opportunity he may never obtain again for a thousand generations. It had to be done. It had to be down NOW.

All he had to do was focus on what was most dear to a man, and pay attention to any aspects of what little Naegi said. So much as her waving her arms like she was now was a treasure trove of information that he required.

"Yes, Master Makoto Naegi," Yamada continued as his possessed hand did it's work, "were her _boo-boos_ plentiful?" Naegi had no idea what he was saying. She only nodded her head each time as it continued to keep his expression going.

"Big boo-boos!" She said again.

"Yes, big, big." Yamada was grinning inside. Since this picture didn't need a background at the time, he easily maneuvered and guided his hand to the sections of the body that were important. At least to him, they were. "Tell me, were they...pointy?" He had to make sure he used as easy-to-understand terms as he could when asking the toddler. Even then, however, she just blinked in confusion.

"Hmm?" She hummed. Yamada tapped his chin with the tip of the pencil as he tried figuring out how to reword the _details_ he needed to know.

"Her boo-boos, did they... have _buttons_ on them?" He gestured with his hands as he formed a small circle outline. Naegi's eyes widened as her mouth opened.

"Ooohhh!" She oohed. With another smile, she nodded. "Poi'ty bittens! " She clapped excitedly.

"Oh ho, yes! Poi'ty bittens indeed!" He didn't even have to ask about the pointy bits of the button- that was a complete bonus to him!

Yamada was fuming through his nose as the tension rose. He was on the pathway to heaven while being listed for hell. There was no going back from here. He was walking over a gold mine of information, each piece of information rushing to his head with inspiring _images_. If not for the young girl in front of him at the moment, he would have drooled from the excitement he felt growing within himself.

It was addicting.

He needed more, more information right this second! He wanted to memorize every detail right down to it's center, to cherish what he would have completed by the end of all things. It was so addicting, he started trembling on unholy ground. There was one place he could attempt to go where there would be no going back. The one area where all men dream to go with a women, where only half of them like Yamada even make it to.

There was no going back anymore.

"M-Master Makoto N-Naegi...?" He rubbed his chin as he tried to phrase his question. "Does Aunty Asahina...Did you see her...lower bellybutton?" His eyes shined with a brilliance of utter bliss. It was the point of no return. "Like a... cave?"

"Caff?" Naegi tilted her head.

"Y-Yes, Caff... Are there any...b-bushes, in the cave? Hairy...bushes?" The fumes were blowing endlessly through his nostrils.

Naegi was the one who had all the answers he needed. She was his salvation to paradise! The happy expression on her face, the way she looked at him with excitement, it was all he needed. The next words she would utter would finalize the latest masterpiece he had worked diligently on working.

Few nerds like him would ever get this far with a woman. Even if it was just the detailed bits he was hearing, it was all he needed. For someone on the inside, someone who could describe to him all the _necessary_ details. Why hadn't he thought of this before? With a child's delicate, fragile mind, it was like having an inside man, one who wouldn't skim out on any of the details since they wouldn't know better.

Who would the victims of the spying blame? The child? They couldn't blame an innocent and sweet child for information like this, so it was foolproof! A plan where no one can get in trouble in the end of all things, provided he himself made a swift and easy escape. This was possibly the greatest plan invented upon nerds since the dawn of time! It had no setbacks or unnecessary work involved whatsoever. It was perfection at it's finest.

And now, with anticipation and wonder, he watched intently as Naegi opened her mouth to speak. It was all coming together now.

"Mommies!" She squealed.

"Oh ho ho." Yamada chuckled. "Yes, your mommies have boo-boos and caves too. Maybe I could get extra work done for future projects..." He commented to himself.

"Boo-boos mommies!" She waved her arms, jumping herself up and down from where she sat.

"Hoho, yes, your mommies have boo-boos too." Yamada said again with a nod. "Now, what about your Aunty's cave?"

"Caff and boo-boos mommies!" She giggled. Yamada rubbed his chin as she kept talking about her mommies.

"Maybe I should switch to Ikusaba and Kirigiri then?" He muttered. He searched the table for his stencil he reached over to grab, realizing it just disappeared. "Now where did that pencil go?" He asked aloud. As if to answer his question, a hand stretched over his shoulder with the pencil in it's fingertips. "Ah, yes, thank you!" He thanked, taking the pencil as he prepared to start his next project.

He only had the time to tap the tip of his pencil onto the paper before he realized it. Something was wrong. It was proven by the air surrounding him as he noticed an increased weight in his breathing. Or perhaps it had something to do with the sight of Naegi actually looking a little more above from where Yamada was? Or perhaps it was the three right hands he felt on his shoulders and back of his neck.

He gulped as the sweat drained from his body. He dared not look back. He could already see the fiery aura blazing past his shoulders as he trembled in fear. He couldn't so much as flinch a someone's left hand reached passed him again, taking the paper of his latest project which he nearly completed. If his pupils could shrink any deeper inside of his retinas, they would have as he heard the eerie but slow sound of someone ripping the paper behind his back. Goose bumps could not form and display the amount of terror he felt as he watched a hand dangling in front of him, sprinkling the shredded remains in front of him like Naegi had done.

"Snowy!" Naegi cheered with a clap.

"Yes, sweetie." He heard Kirigiri's deep-toned voice speak from behind him. "Snowy." He gulped.

He couldn't move, he couldn't twitch, he couldn't so much as scream. Legend once spoke of three angry goddess that would descend from heaven and smite the wicked, even if they were lonely perverted nerds like him. They showed no sympathy for the lonely or the overweight nerds like him. They didn't care for excuse, reason, or backstory behind it.

All they cared about was vengeance. Vengeance in it's primal form. Vengeance that could not undo what the violence would leave one looking like.

The only part of him that showed any signs of movement were his eyes. He shifted them as he watched Kirigiri casually make her way around him, picking up the toddler who lifted her arms up for her mommy to pick up.

"Come along sweetie, this isn't appropriate for children." She stated.

Naegi giggled happily as Kirigiri picked her up, nuzzling her head under Kirigiri's chin. His head creaked as he slowly made it turn, watching as Kirigiri walked off with Naegi in her arms. He could see Asahina and Ikusaba glaring at him from the corners of his eyes. At least, he assumed that's who the terrifying demons standing next to him were.

About halfway out of the lunchroom, Kirigiri stopped. "Hey sweetie, can you say "Bloody Corpse"?" She asked Naegi.

"Biddy corns!" The toddler lisped. All the fun and excitement she was having, at the pain and expense of Yamada's soon-to-be-short life.

"Hmhm, that's right." She nuzzled her nose against Naegi's, tickling her. "You'we so smawt." She cooed. Yamada's jaw shook with a fear that was unending. He shakily raised his hand up towards the two as if to tell them to stop. He couldn't form a screech, a word, or anything from his voice box. Neither of the two paid him any attention though, leaving the room as if he was never there. Thus, he was left with only the Ultimate Soldier, and the girl he was trying to draw for the last several minutes.

If he was lucky, the Corpse Discovery Announcement the next day would be able to recognize any of his remains...

...

...

...

_***Ikusaba's and Kirigiri's time...***_

"Smchk...smchk...smchk..." Kirigiri smiled as she glanced briefly in the mirror, watching Naegi suck her thumb as she slept.

It was just a little before 8, but it had been a long and tiring day for the little chibi girl. Being two years old, she was all but tuckered out from the day, having spent nearly six-to-seven hours with all her friends who were getting used to the new Naegi. They all knew that by tomorrow at some point she would change back to normal, but after all they've done together, a few of them felt like they would've preferred Naegi this way.

At least the females who've met the new Naegi so far would.

But they all knew she had to change back eventually. Even for those who would prefer her this way, the means Monokuma used to do so were already broken, so there was no way to switch her back anyway. All they could do at this point was remember the fond memories they've had with the young toddler. Perhaps a miracle would occur and they would discover this was permanent, or she would at least have to regrow all over again.

For now though, the young toddler was only focused on rest. Any child her age would have actually been exhausted or cranky by this point, being up for a long while without any rest. Kirigiri hadn't factored in any nap times when she was making the whole compromise this morning for who had Naegi and for how long. Because of this, she hadn't anticipated the young toddler to be out like a light by the time they reached her room after Kirigiri placed her on the bed.

She actually wished Naegi was up for a little longer so she could play with her, but she knew it was probably for the best that she slept now. Children her age indefinitely needed their rest. That's why, with a sigh and a smile, she promptly dressed the toddler for bed. Now, Naegi was dressed in a nighttime outfit consisting of a long white shirt, which stretched all the way to the ground and then some when worn by the toddler-sized Naegi, and a diaper. She deserved her rest after all she's gone through, and Kirigiri wasn't to say no.

In fact, she decided to join in on the little activity from this point. Being only two hours from sleep anyway, she decided to join the young Naegi as she prepared for bed. Already wearing her pink nightie, having already taken a quick shower while the toddler slept, all she was currently working on was combing her hair before bed. It might be a bit unusual to comb your hair before bed, especially since you'd wake up with bed hair anyway, but it was just a nightly thing she did so it didn't brush against her face while she slept.

All of this is what greeted Ikusaba as she finally entered the bedroom. She walked in carrying the same light blue duffle bag Kirigiri saw her with earlier. Knowing her, she was most likely searching endlessly for the two again after the left the lunchroom. Fortunately, at least it didn't take her nearly half an hour to find the two this time. It just took her awhile after finishing up what she and Asahina did with Yamada. The sight of Naegi sucking her thumb in her sleep told her all she needed, though she was slightly surprised to see Kirigiri in a nightie already.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Getting ready for bed." Kirigiri replied simply.

"Why?"

"Because it's our turn to watch Naegi from now on." Kirigiri kept replying in a casual tone. She continued on before Ikusaba could possibly say the next thing on her mind. "And I don't plan on going anywhere else out of her sight, so I decided to enjoy an early sleep with her." She added.

"Ghhhh." Ikusaba groaned looking back at Naegi. She hated Kirigiri right now, well, more than usual.

She knew something like this was going to happen! Not so much as to what would prevent them from hanging out with Naegi, just that something would keep them from interacting with her in the long run. It's just the way Murphy's Law and Fate worked. She knew if they didn't play and interact with Naegi earlier on, then something would keep them prevented for the rest of the evening. It was like that one annoying twitch on the back of your mind that told you when something was wrong, you just never knew what.

Much like she expected, now Naegi was currently in a state of no longer being able to be played with anymore. She wanted to shout angrily about how she knew this was going to happen and everything, but with Naegi in the room, and sleeping, she knew she couldn't. The last thing she wanted was to wake the toddler from her slumber in a crying fit. It'd be even worse for her if Naegi developed some kind of permanent fear of her for doing it, even after she changed back! The idea of Naegi being scared of her for the rest of her life was a virtual hell for Ikusaba to think of.

Sighing, Ikusaba decided to at least join in on Kirigiri's idea. She would not let her rival hog Naegi all night, even if they were just sleeping. Setting the duffle bag under her bed, Kirigiri paid Ikusaba no mind or thought as she slipped out of her skirt. She wasn't about to argue in front of Naegi for the same reasons.

"So you're spending the night here I take it?" Kirigiri assumed.

"Tch," Ikusaba rolled her eyes mentally, "that a problem?" She questioned irritated.

"Not as long as you don't cause any problems for the night." Kirigiri replied firmly. She was willing to share the bed with the three of them for one night, but she would NOT put up with any tricks Ikusaba might pull in her room. "Speaking of problems, how's Yamada?" She wasn't generally worried about him in general, just whether or not he was still alive at this point.

"You can relax." Ikusaba assured. "We left him with just enough pints of blood to avoid a Corpse Discovery Announcement." She answered. The human body usually holds up to eight pints of blood on average. Kirigiri guessed he'd manage as long as he had a little near a full pint of blood remaining, which would be way more than Kirigiri would have even left him with.

Getting the final knot out of her hair, straightening it out finally, Kirigiri set the brush back into her drawers. Giving herself a final check to see if she forgot anything of said importance, she nodded to herself as she made her way to the left side of the bed, seeing Ikusaba already resting on the right side.

With the two of them in bed, they stared at each other for a few seconds before turning their attention down to the toddler in-between them. Looking at her alone was enough to fill them with a sense of peace. It made them, almost, completely forget that their most hated person was lying down a few inches away from each other. Her being right there was also an assurance that neither of the two would try anything as long as Naegi was right next to them.

She was their little safety zone, a thing that would guarantee their safety as long as she was near.

"So... going to bed then?" Ikusaba asked to be sure.

Kirigiri nodded in response, further proving her answer as she turned off the lamp next to her. Ikusaba didn't realize it at the time, but all the light from within the room apparently came from this one brightly lit lamp. With it's illuminating warmth turned off, the room was filled with an unbridled darkness. There was only a small blue tint to her surroundings, indicating a small fraction of light coming into the room.

"I do owe you a small apology you know." Kirigiri commented as she slid into the covers. She gave Naegi a small kiss to the right of her forehead as she pulled the covers up above her a little more.

"For which, do I possibly ask?" Ikusaba asked snidely. "The part where we couldn't play with her at ALL the entire day, or the fact we didn't get to hang out with her at all for the day?"

"Both." Kirigiri rolled her eyes before closing them. She knew Ikusaba would act like this, but Kirigiri knew she wouldn't keep bringing up the past concern unless Kirigiri admitted to it. "We should have spent the time we had with her when we should." She muttered quietly, trying to keep Naegi from awakening.

Ikusaba stared at her irritated as she slipped into the covers herself. It was so like Kirigiri to try to show her off. To have the audacity and maturity to admit her own mistakes in front of her rival, she knew, or at least thought, she was just showing herself off as the more mature one of the two. Ikusaba hating her was a common thing, but she hated it even more when she was trying to show up.

Again, only as Ikusaba thought.

"Yeah well..." Ikusaba closed her eyes as she muttered back. "We'll just have to make the most of it tomorrow I guess." She said with a shrug. She opened her eyes a little as she looked down towards the sleeping toddler. "What do you think we should do?" Kirigiri opened her eyes slightly with confusion.

"Hmm?"

"What should we do about her if she doesn't change back?" She clarified. Kirigiri didn't take more than a moment to close her eyes again.

"I'm sure she will change back." She responded. "And if she doesn't...then we're responsible for the rest of her life." She added. Ikusaba lifted her head up to her as she said this, keeping her eyes close.

"Huh?" She mumbled.

"She's like this because of the two of us, remember?" Kirigiri reminded. "If she is stuck like this, than we have to spend the rest of our lives making it up to her by caring for her."

Ikusaba frowned to herself. She didn't mind the idea of taking care of Naegi or anything for the rest of her life. The part that bothered her was how right Kirigiri was about this all being their fault. Because the two of them always bickered back and forth with one another, neither of the three were paying attention enough to realize Monokuma or what he was doing. If either of the two had bothered to stop arguing for even a second, they could have saved her or pushed her out of the way of Monokuma's gadget firing. It bothered her too much to not accept the responsibility.

It was their own fault, and they officially had to make it up to Naegi, no matter how long it took. After all, the small Naegi accepted the both of them as her "mommies" anyway. What choice did they have at this point?

"I'm willing to take care of her if you are then." Ikusaba spoke. She agreed to their responsibility if all went wrong. She couldn't tell if it was because of Naegi being so close to her, but she could have sworn she saw a small smile on Kirigiri's face, looking as if she liked this agreement.

"That also means we can't be fighting anymore with each other you know." Kirigiri added. "It's what got us into this mess to begin with, remember?"

"If we're taking care of Naegi the entire time, I don't see much reason or time to argue." Ikusaba closed her eyes as she replied.

Kirigiri could accept that. Even if Ikusaba hated her guts till the end of time, as long as she was willing to stop the fighting between one another, she could accept it. They had a commitment to Naegi for the rest of their lives, and at no point, especially in her infantile years, could they argue in front of Naegi.

"It's for the best then. But let's just focus on getting to sleep now. We might be in for a long day tomorrow." Kirigiri suggested with a yawn. Ikusaba could smile to that too. At least a good night's sleep was something they could both agree on at any time.

Closing her eyes, she breathed through her nose as she awaited slumber to take her away for the rest of the night...

...

"-kusaba..." Ikusaba's brows twitched a bit as she regained some form of consciousness.

"Nnghhhhehhhghhhhh..." Naegi could be heard whimpering.

"Ikusaba!" Kirigiri spoke a little louder as she shook Ikusaba's shoulder.

"Mmhh..." Ikusaba groaned slightly as she opened her eyes slightly. It was more tiring to fall asleep earlier in the day and wake up in the middle of the night instead of just waking up in the middle of the night at all. "What do you wan-!" Ikusaba's face tightened a little as her nose scrunched up. "Ugh! What is that smell?!" She muttered sickeningly. She was now fully awake.

"What do you think?" Kirigiri asked, gesturing her eyes down to Naegi.

Looking down herself, she noticed Naegi had a seemingly pained expression on her face. While it was unsure whether or not she was awake at the moment, her legs could be seen kicking from under the blanket and white long shirt she was wearing. She squirmed in place as she kicked her legs from side to side, seeming uncomfortable from her current position. Despite her eyes tightening and the moaning, she never fully let out a cry or opened her eyes, which is why it was hard to tell if Naegi was actually awake or not.

The only thing that was known was that she needed her diaper changed badly.

"Where's the bag with her stuff?" Kirigiri asked again. Ikusaba was still half-asleep to understand the idea behind the question, but handed the bag she pulled out from under the bed.

"Right here." She muttered, handing it over to her. Her eyes slowly opened more as she watched Kirigiri carefully lift Naegi from the bed, carrying her over a few feet away and placing her on a medium-sized dresser she had. "What are you doing?"

"What else would I be doing?" Kirigiri retorted. She opened the bag swiftly but quietly as she searched through it's contents. "I'm going to change her diaper." She stated bluntly.

"Change her-?" Ikusaba raised a brow before groaning. "Huff, here, let me do it." She told her, walking her way over to the two without hesitation. Kirigiri looked back at her questionably.

"You've changed a diaper before?" She wondered.

"No," Ikusaba replied digging through the bag, "but how hard can it be?" She smiled to herself as she pulled out another diaper from the bag, finding wipes and powder too. It wasn't just a manner of helping Kirigiri like they agreed. Even if they were best buddies, if that ever happened, she absolutely refused to let her get more _points_ than her when it came to Naegi. Although she offered it, Kirigiri couldn't help but feel slightly concerned for the Ultimate Soldier.

"Umm, Ikusaba?" She spoke up. "I really don't mind doing it. I've dealt with children in the past in some of my work." Ikusaba just smirked at her.

"Please, I'm a soldier, I can handle it." She pulled the long shirt Naegi was wearing up above so her diaper was more visible. It definitely needed a change.

"I-I know that, but-" Kirigiri tried to warn.

"Look, seriously, I can handle it." She stated firmly. "I've been through multiple wars and battlefields in my time, Kyoko. I've seen body parts dismembered, heads torn to pieces, and have seen guts spill out from a persons stomach." She explained as she grabbed hold of one of the diaper's tapes. "How bad can it be?"

...

...

...

"_**Blaaaghthhhh**_!" Iksuaba ejected her stomach's contents into the toilet again as she dunk her head inside. Waiting until her mouth was completely empty, she drooled a bit as she leaned her chin on the toilet bowl's sides, delirious and sickened. "Oh the horror...the horrrrorrrrrr..." She groaned. Her cheeks puffed out suddenly as her face paled. Once again, she buried her head into the bowl as she puked, all the while Kirigiri watched her from her bathroom's doorway.

"I tried to warn you." She reminded. She was holding a small bag with an odorous smell, presumably the remains of the diaper change Ikusaba attempted five minutes ago. With her diaper changed, Naegi was sleeping and content, once more sucking her thumb on Kirigiri's bed.

"The unbri-euhghhh!" Ikusaba paused as she covered her mouth, thinking she was about to puke. "The unbridled horror..." She moaned again. She creepily tilted her head to the side as she stared at Kirigiri irritated. "H-How... How could you handle t-that...?"

"I told you, I've dealt with kids in the past from some of my jobs." She replied. "In my line of work, I've often had children to watch over from time to time." She made sure to be vague on the details of her actual work. It didn't matter to her if Ikusaba agreed, she couldn't let any information about her profession as a Detective slip out. It might give the puppet master a higher hand to tighten his security.

It didn't make Ikusaba feel any better. "T-That's unholy...H-How can you be expected... to live the rest of your life... with what you saw?" Kirigiri knew she had to feel a little sympathy for the drained girl. It wasn't easy for her either the first couple times during her work, but she eventually grew out of the disgust. She knew she should show sympathy for the other girl, but she didn't. She just smiled as she remembered a little comment Ikusaba made earlier this morning.

"Look on duh bwight side Icky-saba, I'm sure she's potty twained, but all dat stuff had to go somewhewe, wight?" She taunted in a goofy tone with her tongue sticking out. If it wasn't for her eyes swelling with tears from the vomit, they would have ignited a fire with rage.

"G-Get out...Get that thing out of here...Burn it for the love of pete..." She groaned lying her head on the toilet bowl, closing her eyes. Kirigiri at least had the decency to cover the growing smirk on her lips as she left.

It was these small moments that brought grand victory to her over Ikusaba. It wasn't concerning to her whether or not Naegi remembered these things, she would make sure that Ikusaba never had a constant moral victory over her. Eyeing Naegi once more to be sure she's safe, she gathered up all the trash as she headed out to the Garbage Room. The entire time, she had no idea Ikusaba had ended up falling asleep as she did, kneeled against the toilet bowl...

...

*_sizzle*_

"Phew." Kirigiri yawned in exhaustion.

It was currently 1:37 in the morning. She never thought she'd have to deal with changing diapers in a school after all this happened. She was also glad the incinerator was available to use. It made watching the evil contents of the garbage easier as it burned.

She had to admit, for what it's worth, she didn't mind caring for little Naegi the way she was at the time. It made her wonder if the two of them did ever end up having kids, through adoption of course, if she would still be a good mother. She smiled sleepily as she remembered first seeing Naegi's priceless smile as she mistook her and Ikusaba as her mothers. It warmed her heart just thinking about it.

"She's really cute like this." Kirigiri commented. A part of her did wish she could raise Naegi like this now, but she knew it was just her mind being greedy.

The other figure within the room didn't know that, though. "I know, right? She's just an angel!" The voice spoke.

"H- Mmhmhhh!" Kirigiri's eyes lit up too little too late. With one swift movement, she felt an arm thrown around her throat as a cloth was placed over her mouth.

"I mean really, those big sparkly eyes of her, the way she giggles and squirms everywhere? Huff, she truly is a dream child, isn't she?" The figure spoke. Kirigiri couldn't get a good view of the face, not that it mattered. Even if she had gotten a view, all they would have been greeted with was a strange skeletal-like wrestling-looking mask. It covered their eyes and mouth completely with a sinister grin stitched into it.

"You know, I reeeeeally got to thank you for keeping your door open, you know?" They continued. "It makes sneaking into places so much easier when there's no locks to worry about." They tilted their head back in thought. "Of course I could just as easily pick the lock myself or whatever with my keys, but then the hassle occurs where I can't find the right key or the right door to the key and so on." They grinned as they clamped their cloth-covered hand tighter against Kirigiri's mouth and nose.

"So thanks to you, it saved me a good while of picking locks." They leaned their head closer to Kirigiri's ears as they muttered. "By the way, did you know your little babysitter fell asleep on duty?" Kirigiri's eyes widened in shock, accidentally inhaling a small dose of the cloth in the process.

There was a scent running through her nostrils as the smell of the cloth got to her. She knew what it was; morphine. She knew the minute she breathed in that noxious fume, she would instantly pass out. Sadly, with her tiring status and the suddenness of the event, she was powerless against her captor as her eyes slowly rolled back, losing consciousness. "Mmh...mmmmh..." And just like that, she was out like a light.

The figure knew it had ample opportunity to kill her right there and then, but it would just be a ruin. It would be too easy to watch her burn in the incinerator as she screams in agony. She wanted her to die in the depths of despair, and she would ensure she did when the time came.

In the mean time, with a smile, the shadowy figure crept their way through the halls. Even at 1:37 in the morning, it was never too safe to drop their guard entirely. They just needed to visit one room in particular, a room with a very special prize. It was even easier to sneak into the room, thanks to Kirigiri leaving it slightly opened. It wasn't due to laziness or anything, she just hadn't anticipated that Ikusaba was actually sleeping when she left.

With a quick glance, there, she saw it. Slowly walking up towards the small toddler, the figure grinned to themselves as they gently lifted her up, Naegi continuing to suck her thumb as she slept without a stir.

"Dawww, who's a cute baby?" They asked, rocking the toddler a little. "Don't worry sweetie. Tomorrow, you're going to have fun with your Aunty Junko!"

...

...

...

A/N: Gawwwwwwwww damniiiiiiiiiiiit! I might never do a freaking Bonus episode again T_P...This bonus ep STILL isn't finished! I have one more segment to complete after all that's been shown, and THEN I"M FINALLY F***ING DOOOONE T_T_T_T_T_T_T Adding it all together, this is currently turning into a 20K+ bonus episode, and knowing my misfortune, it'll be 30k+ by tomorrow T_T

I'm sorry to say to the other people out there that they should not/never expect a work this long in the future for their bonus episodes. I'm not playing favoritism or anything. The issue I just realized, I went ahead with the idea of the whole "1 scene bonus episode" thing for the rules. Prob is, adding all this up, I just realized I agreed to like 5-6 scenes of a bonus chp at once- you can see where this brought me T_T

So yeah, sorry, but I can NOT do this again X(! Not that I'm against working on like a 10K word bonus ep or anything, but I can't do it if it ends up being like 30K+ or taking over a day to complete X( Don't make me do it mommy...*sniff*...I'll be a good boy, I promiiiise X*!

With that in mind, we can all only assume and agree that this is once again, Westerner's fault! After all, I can't blame the bonus-requestee since I accidentally agreed to it without realization, and I can't blame me, because I'm me! With that logic, we can all 100% agree this is Westerner's fault then ^^!

So, in closing, **LAAAAAAAAAAST** third will be posted tomorrow T_T Also a little heads up, due to the fact this took so long, I'm sorry again if it shows some form of favoritism, but to compensate for the lack of main story updates, I wont be doing anymore bonus eps till we reach the 70th reviewer this time around. Otherwise, by the time I even finish this freaking thing, it'll be a 60 and i'll have another freaking request to complete X/

Huff, anyway, so ya. Final part tomorrow, westerner's fault, Death to America- I mean Happy Halloween, etc. etc. Read, enjoy, and rev ^^...guuuuuuuuuuuuh so tired T_T...


	24. Bonus episode 4: Chibi Naegi Finale

A/N: For the love of freaking god almighty, the last freaking chapter in this annoyingly long series. I can't believe I'm done, nor the idea that despite "rushing", or at least feeling like I rushed somewhat, I still managed to pull off a freaking 8k+ thing. Seriously, I think I got a problem now XP

As always, enjoy and review. Because in the end, all we know about why this bonus episode took so long, is because it is somehow, and always will be, Westerner's fault.

Enjoy ^^

…

…

…

"...Ngh..." Kirigiri groaned quietly as she began to regain consciousness. Her eyes shuttered as she slowly woke up. Just from glancing in front of herself, she saw she was still in the incinerator room. It took her but a moment to recall all that had happened the previous night beforehand.

After finishing what Ikusaba attempted to do last night, Kirigiri took the liberty of throwing away the remaining trash and supplies that were used up. In doing so, she ended up leaving the door unlocked because Ikusaba was still around, but hadn't realized the Ultimate Soldier accidentally passed out near the toilet that night. If it wasn't for the fact she was the Ultimate Soldier, she would have just locked the door last night as planned. In fact she officially hated herself for not locking it for such a reason anyway.

Why would she hate herself for doing such a thing, some may ask? Because of the mysterious figure that snuck up on her in the middle of the night last night, which is the reason she was passed out to begin with. It was then she realized what the figure told her last night; they knew that the door was open, AND they knew that Ikusaba was the only one left in the room to guard the toddler Naegi at the time.

With eyes widening and a realization striking her, she let out a small gasp before rushing towards the door, panicking. "Naegi!" She yelled worriedly rushing into the halls.

It wasn't just a detail that someone could go in and take Naegi that concerned her. Adding the facts together, she suddenly realized how there was only one person in the school who could know both, that Kirigiri was in the incinerator, and that Ikusaba was alone with Naegi and still out cold. She couldn't believe how stupid she was at that moment!

Running down the hallways towards her door, she realized how it all made sense. This was nothing more than a giant trap between Ikusaba and the Puppet Master! Why was she so foolish as to believe that Ikusaba would actually want to help raise Naegi for the rest of her life? It was so stupid! Obviously, her "disgust" from changing Naegi's diaper last night was all an act. The barfing was nothing more than an amateur joke. It would be more than easy to simply pull on one's uvula until one barfed. Kirigiri was never more disgusted with her own sympathy than she was now.

Coming up to her door, Kirigiri glared irritatingly as she quickly pushed it open with one go. "Naegi!" She screamed again, looking around. Much to her horror, as she feared at this point, Naegi was no longer in her bed like Kirigiri left her last night. The covers were thrown back, and the duffle bag with her stuff was gone too now. "No..." KIrigiri frowned sourly as she bit her lip. Leaning against the door, she realized this was the end. There would be no way the Puppet Master would leave Naegi alive for whatever reason. Not only that, but to be tricked so foolishly as she felt herself being last night... It was awful.

It was her fault. She knew that from the very beginning. She actually had the job of watching Naegi like she so wanted to, along with Ikusaba, and she completely failed it. What was she supposed to do now? For all she knew Naegi was dead. And even if she wasn't, she doubted the puppet master would bring her anywhere that Kirigiri could easily reach. There was no other way to look at this other than saying it was her own fault. To even say some stupid excuse like "I forgot to lock the door" would be complete BS to herself by this point.

Ikusaba was gone, Naegi was gone, and she was the only one to blame.

...At least, she thought that was the case. Just as her eyes started to water with tears, she heard a familiar groaning echoing from the bathroom. Turning her head up quickly, she was shocked to see Ikusaba holding her stomach with the same sickening expression as yesterday, using her other hand to guide herself against the wall and out of the bathroom. Kirigiri was shocked.

And furious.

"Ugghhh." She groaned, eyes half-opened. "Please tell me she doesn't need a change ag-Ahhhh!" She let out a startled yelp as Kirigiri grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, throwing her to the ground. Before the Ultimate Soldier could even tell what was happening, Kirigiri already had her hands wrapped tightly against her throat.

"Where's Naegi?!" Kirigiri growled with rage. Her eyes burned with a fiery hatred that only knew anger. Ikusaba weakly opened her right eye, still a little numb from her incident the night earlier. She was already using most of her energy just trying to pry Kirigiri's grip off her throat.

"W-Wh-What?" Ikusaba muttered quietly. She winced as Kirigiri tightened her grip even further.

"Don't play dumb with me you bitch!" Kirigiri shouted angrier. "Tell me where Naegi is right NOW!"

Ikusaba was confused for words. She had no idea where she was. Why should she? She was the one throwing up all of last night, not Kirigiri.

"H-How should I know?" Ikusaba struggled to regain her strength. Even as she started awakening more and more, the lack of air she was getting was progressively weakening her body at the same time. "I-Isn't she sleeping s-still?"

"What do you think?" Kirigiri snapped. "Maybe you should rethink where you put her last night after you stole her!" Kirigiri grumbled again.

If anything happened to Naegi, she swore her life that Ikusaba would pay, no matter how strong she was.

"Quit playing dumb with me and tell me where you took her!" She demanded forcefully.

"I-I didn't take her anywhere, honest!" Ikusaba's own grip was starting to go numb. Whatever Kirigiri was talking about, she was being serious.

"Bull. Shit!"

"I-I mean it! If I took her anywhere, then what am I doing here?" Ikusaba coughed. Processing this detail, Kirigiri blinked as she began easing her grip.

Ikusaba immediately began to cough as the air came rushing through her lungs once more. KIriigiri couldn't believe how clouded her mind was when things came to Naegi, but Ikusaba was right. If she really had taken Naegi, there wouldn't have been any reason whatsoever for her to return here. She couldn't even do it to stay undercover. With how much Kirigiri distrusted her, she could easily assert herself and find something about Ikusaba that would expose her identity.

Beyond that, there just wasn't a reason for her to come back in general. If she had truly wished to take Naegi away with her, she would never come back, even if it did expose her identity as a traitor. The others would know instantly about her identity, but if she was with the headmaster, somewhere where they couldn't be reached, then they would never have anything to fear. They would be untouchable.

"Tch..." Kirigiri looked away somewhat shamefully as she slowly got off of her. "I-I'm sorry..." She mumbled quietly. Ikusaba looked at her puzzled as she rubbed her sore throat.

"Would you mind telling me what the hell the problem is now?" Ikusaba requested. There was a moment of silence as Kirigiri hesitantly looked back to her.

"Naegi... She isn't here." Just those three words alone got Ikusaba's eyes to widen.

"Huh?" She got up off the floor as she looked towards the bed. Like Kirigiri had done earlier, her eyes were filled with terror as she let out a small gasp. "N-Naegi..." She quickly scanned the room looking all over. Also like Kirigiri had first discovered earlier, the other thing she realized was that the duffle bag she had earlier was also missing. Everything related to and for Naegi was gone. "W-Where is she?" She asked Kirigiri worriedly. Kirigiri just stared at her sternly.

"Take a guess who has her." She retorted, gesturing her eyes towards the camera.

Ikusaba didn't even need to think about it the second she looked in the following direction. Her jaw dropped slightly as it was frozen with horror. She knew her partner, ever since childhood. She knew about all the inhumane and dangerous things her partner has ever done through their life and up to this point. And now she had Naegi. There was virtually no end to the amount of nightmarish catastrophes she could instill within the young Naegi, and that's provided she didn't already change back by now.

She didn't just realize that either. She also realized the numerous possible scenarios that played out in her mind as to why Kirigiri didn't know where she was either. Her transmitter was always sending audio of what her friends were talking about, even if Ikusaba didn't have it on on her end. Clearly she also heard about how sickened Ikusaba came under last night, and with the cameras always on the students, she would also know where and when each of the students were at all time.

Her partner practically planned having Ikusaba in her plan without Ikusaba ever realizing it! The fact alone they already took Naegi by separating Kirigiri and Ikusaba at that point was just enough proof of that.

What truly enraged her though was that her partner came up with a plan like this to begin with. Why hadn't she contacted Ikusaba at any point during that night? She could have easily told her about the plan and the details behind it. Hell, she could just tell Ikusaba to kill Kirigiri and take Naegi at all.

As to whether or nto Ikusaba would have done so remained in question, not that Ikusaba was against the idea, but she didn't want t do anything drastic that might shatter Naegi's mind and sanity. She already had enough scarring taking place since she got here. Plus, if Naegi was stuck as a toddler and forced to re-grow up, then there was no way Ikusaba could kill Kirigiri while she was mothering Naegi. It would ruin her life even more if one of her mothers were killed off just like that.

"I was knocked out in the Incinerator room." Kirigiri stated sitting on the bed. She wanted to fill in any gaps to any pertaining questions Ikusaba might have so they could focus on Naegi. "I let my guard down for a stupid minute and they knocked me out cold. I," Kirigiri frowned slightly at the upcoming detail, "I forgot to lock the stupid door here. I thought she would have been safe with you no matter what, so...I'm sorry."

Ikusaba felt a little sympathetic for the girl in front of her. She could see it inside her, how she was tearing up even if she didn't show it. She actually blamed herself instead of Ikusaba more because of one lousy excuse.

"Look...I-It isn't your fault, alright?" Ikusaba actually tried to help cheer her up. "I mean honestly, neither of was knew what to expect, right? Besides, I'm sure we can find her if-"

"_Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!_" Yamada could be heard screaming from outside the room, interrupting Ikusaba's remark. Both Girls lost their train of thought as they looked at the door in surprise.

"What the hell was that?" Ikusaba asked. To her, it sounded like a mix of a hippo and a rabid gopher screaming at the same time.

Neither of the two bothered waiting for an answer as they already bolted for the door. At first glance, it appeared to be calm and peaceful, but after seeing Yamada sprinting passed them, at surprisingly high speeds, it became more evident as to what the problem was.

It was nothing that they could ever expect.

As they saw, Yamada was sprinting down the hallway, with surprising speed despite his size. The hallway itself was more than just a simple mess, compared to how it usually looked anyway. The walls and even parts of the ceiling were covered in black soot, the walls appeared to be covered in bullet holes with shell casings of the bullets sprung around the floor, and there was a strange scent of smoke filling the hallways themselves.

Having passed through the hallway only minutes ago, Kirigiri was more than surprised by how much damage it had sustained in the few minutes she came back to her room. She didn't even hear anything in he time she entered her room, but then again, the rooms were soundproof, so it wasn't too surprising after all. Yet at the same time, neither her nor Ikusaba, could figure out just what the heck happened to this hall to make it look like a warzone.

"Die alien scum!" A familiar voice shouted. Glancing back down the hallway, in the opposite direction of where Yamada was running, they found the answer to the hallway's destruction.

Monokuma. Or at least, some variation of him. The unmistakable head atop the figure made it easy to tell it was Monokuma, as well as the concrete however, that was about the only resemblance to the same Monokuma everyone here knew and hate. This Monokuma was by no other means the same Monokuma than they all knew.

For starters, this Monokuma didn't have the same basic legs he normally used to run with. Where there was once paw-like feet and stubby legs, there were now a continuous track, or tank legs, grafted onto his waste, leaving a blackened trail wherever he ran across. His left arm was now modified with high-caliber machine gun, which had thee capacity of firing off about ten bullets per second. His other arm was rather different in terms of weaponry. Instead of your typical gun or rocket-arm attachment, he now had a built in flamethrower, with the hose of weapon being his entire arm.

As if any of this wasn't enough, his head was no longer the same as the average Monokuma's either, granted that anything about Monokuma was average to begin with. As it stands, he now had what appeared to be a laser scope attached to his right eye, most likely to help zoom in and narrow in on any targets he came across. Like the sniper rifle, this also had a crosshair to make his aims more precise.

The only part of Monokuma that resembled the bear everyone knew of was the rest of his body, and the left half of his face, which was left without any modifications.

Regardless, Monokuma was still the dangerous adversary that everyone knew to fear, as well as keep away from. If not for the fear, then for the primary reason that one wasn't allowed to attack the headmaster without severe consequences, mostly in the form of death. Therefore, even if someone could form a plan to stop this monstrosity, which passed by Kirigiri's room without noticing the two girls, they couldn't use it to stop the Monokuma without ending in death either way.

"Die aliens, die!" He continued chanting as he ran down the halls.

Both girls continued to blink dumbfounded. This was nowhere near the same Monokuma like before. Not just for his new appearance, but the fact he was actually deliberately attacking the students, who Kirigiri assumed hadn't violated any rules thus far, he was completely breaking his own rules.

It wasn't the same Monokuma at all.

"What the heck is he doing?" Ikusaba's eyes widened in complete shock.

"Apparently he thinks everyone is an alien..." Kirigiri pointed out, watching as the strange Monokuma continued to torment Yamada as he chased.

"Burn fatty alien burrrrn!" He screeched as his flamethrower blasted towards the panicking Yamada. Luckily, he managed to jump out of the way and into the lunchroom just before the flames reached him. During the few moments that Monokuma titled the running blob, Kirigiri and Ikusaba's eyes lit up in realization. There was only one person they knew that continued to name Yamada "fatty".

"Naegi!" They yelped in Unison, quickly looking at each other.

"She's controlling Monokuma!" Ikusaba stated.

It was the only thing that made sense at this point, considering nothing about this school had yet to make sense. For someone with the attention span of a two-year-old, of course someone like Naegi would run around and try to incinerate people. To her, this was nothing more than a game, and everyone else was just _playing along, _not realizing this was a real life or death scenario.

"How did she get access to Monokuma's contro-!" Kirigiri paused suddenly as she realized it. She glared sternly at Ikusaba, already knowing for a fact what the cause was. "She's with the headmaster, isn't she?!" Ikusaba was actually taken back slightly by this, but she realized too that it was the only thing that made sense.

"I don't believe it..." She muttered. It wasn't so much that her partner would go and kidnap Naegi in the middle of the night anymore, but for her to give control of Monokuma to a two-year-old? Now it was getting ridiculous. "Why would the headmaster give her controls of Monokuma though? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Forget the parts that don't make sense, that doesn't matter now." Kirigiri retorted. "We need to go get Naegi and fast before she kills someone!"

"I know, b-but..." Ikusaba rubbed her arm uneasily as she looked away with a frown.

Kirigiri already knew what the problem was. For them to go get Naegi, they would have to go and find the headmaster themselves. Obviously, Kirigiri couldn't just go along with her and find Naegi since it would give away a mountain of mysteries surrounding the school, and they couldn't just not go get Naegi at this moment because there was no telling what the headmaster might do to them later on, especially if she changed back before they got her.

Kirigiri groaned in irritation as she rubbed her head. There was only one way to resolve this no matter how much Kirigiri hated it.

"..et her..." Kirigiri mumbled under her breath. Ikusaba looked to her in confusion.

"Hmm?"

"I said go get her." Kirigiri repeated firmly. Ikusaba was a bit surprised to say the least. This was the one opportunity Kirigiri had to follow along with her, practically force her, and discover the secrets of the headmaster and possibly this school. She really had a strong conviction to resist such an urge and stay behind instead. "Go get Naegi and bring her back," she ordered turning around, "before I change my mind and follow you."

"B-But what about you?" She wanted to take the opportunity, but she needed to know what Kirigiri was planning to do if she wasn't going to follow her. "I highly doubt you expect me to believe that you'll just stand here and do nothing."

Kirigiri turned her head to look back at her. "I'm going to buy everyone some time and see if I can distract her. In the meantime, go and get Naegi, **now**!" She told her. There were a million things Ikusaba wanted to clarify or explain, but knowing Naegi's life was on the line, she didn't argue. With a confirming nod to each other, they quickly split up as they went their separate ways.

They only had a limited time to do something before Naegi could inadvertently kill someone.

...

...

...

"Come out, come out, wherever you arrrre!" Monokuma said chuckling, looking throughout the lunchroom.

Like the hallway Kirigiri and Ikusaba discovered earlier, the lunchroom was a complete mess. The walls were torn about with bullet holes strewn in them, numerous areas around the wall were scorched with burn marks, and nearly half the tables were flipped over or torn apart. It was definitely a battlefield within the very school, only in this case, it was a one-man-army trying to exterminate the remaining students of Hope's Peak Academy.

It was a rather thankful bit of luck that Naegi was, presumably, the one under the controls. If someone with more of an attention span was at the controls, they would have easily checked behind the small makeshift barricade of tables put together on the rightmost corner side of the lunchroom. It wasn't in the best condition, nor was it suitable for a defense. The only thing it was at this point was a relatively safe hiding place for the current students trapped within the room with a (more) murderous Monokuma.

Asahina, Yamada, and Owada was the ones fearing for their lives. Having put three of the tables in the surrounding corner, it was the only thing separating them from the rampaging Monokuma that tried to kill them. Due to Monokuma's recent rampage, there wasn't any Monokuma announcement this morning like there usually was. Because of this, Oogami and Celes were still not present for the morning meeting, presumably still sleeping as they recovered their energy from yesterday's school-wide investigation with Kirigiri they had the other day.

It wouldn't matter much if they were awake by this point. As long as the rule was in place that they couldn't attack the headmaster, everyone within this school was powerless against the evolved Monokuma.

Noticing a quick moment of peace, Asahina briefly popped her head out from the barricade. Fortunately, due to having a new set of tank legs, it made it easier to tell when he was turning, as well as making it longer for him to turn and change directions. Right when he was about to turn towards Asahina, she quickly pulled her head back down, narrowly avoiding from being discovered by Monokuma.

"What the fuck does he think he's doing?!" Owada whispered angrily. "This is unfair for who knows how many reasons!"

"And why does he keep calling me an alien?" Yamada moaned. Out of all of this, being called a fat alien was the most painful injury he's received all day. Noticing the few bruises he still had, Owada couldn't help to ask him something.

"Dude, what the hell did that thing do to you?" He wondered. "You look awful!"

As Yamada was about to open his mouth to reply, a quick look at a still fuming Asahina made him quickly change his mind. He moaned as he lowered his head and arms, already defeated. "I uhhh...fell down some stairs." He lied. Asahina let out a "hmph" as she turned away from him.

"Well whatever the case, you probably deserved it." She muttered with a blush. Owada looked back and forth between the two, noticing some air of tension among them.

"Did...something happen the other day to you two?" He asked.

"N-No..." Yamada lied again.

"Where arrre youuuuuuu?" Monokuma called again, searching throughout the room.

From all the areas he visited so far, there was one corner he had yet to look behind. He followed Yamada into the room with excitement like a tiger hunting it's prey. The only difference was that a tiger didn't usually do this for fun, just for survival and food. This was nothing more than a game for the person behind Monokuma's controls. With a teethed grin, he slowly turned the direction towards the barricade, slowly and steadily moving towards it.

The three quickly went silent as they heard the approaching sound of tracks coming near them. They knew he was getting closer to them, but they had to do what they could to remain silent. If by some miracle, perhaps something would happen to distract Monokuma before they were found out. As it so happened, a miracle did happen after all for them just as he was nearly a few yards towards them.

It just wasn't in the form they expected.

"Oh Naeeeegiiiiiii!" Kirigiri could be heard coming out. If it wasn't for the fact the others were covering their heads down as they shook in fear, they would've more easily understood what the violet girl just said. Almost instantly, Monokuma's gaze turned towards the sudden name call. It helped confirm one question in terms of who was behind the controls at this point. Smiling, Kirigiri waved her arms widely, trying to get the Monokuma's attention towards her. "I bet you can't tag meeee!" She taunted.

It Monokuma wasn't robotic, his eyes would've lit up at this. Turning his body entirely, he suddenly burst at full speed towards the taunting girl.

"Taaaaaag!" The Monokuma cheered. Kirigiri had little time to be surprised by the amount of speed the Monokuma had at this point. All she cared about was running from the mechanical bear as she ran down the halls as quickly as her legs would carry her. She needed to buy all the time she could until Ikusaba could fix this problem. She didn't trust Ikusaba at all, but she did trust the feelings she had for Naegi.

She just hoped she wouldn't regret it...

...

...

...

"Wheeeeeeeee! Tag! Tag!" The little Naegi cheered as she messed with the control sticks. The figure whose lap she was in, Junko, grinned as she handled the rest of the controls, including the voice function.

"That's right my little Naegi," she cooed happily patting her head, "you just focus on tagging your mommy, and I'll make sure you keep having fun." She promised.

It was Junko. There was no promise without some form of betrayal. And yet she couldn't help but find herself fascinated by how energetic and lively the two-year-old Naegi was.

Within the confines of Monokuma's control room, they were safe. Deep within the Data Processing room, no one could get to them, at least no one Junko had to worry about. The only thing she had to worry about, at all at this point, was if and when Naegi would need another diaper change. Otherwise, everything from then on was safe and secure.

She didn't know why she didn't think of this earlier. Her plan was perfect no matter how she looked at it. Let Naegi have the controls and _play_ around, and she could carry out any and all future business from then on. It made her almost chuckle from how simple it was, yet at how stupid she felt herself being for not thinking of it earlier. She loved to loathe herself. It only drew her farther in the recesses of despair.

By allowing Naegi to play with the Monokuma controls, she could handle just about anything that happened up to this point. In this way, not only could she sew despair further into the minds of the school children, as we as anyone currently watching this event, but she could also kill all the students who were causing trouble up to this point without breaking a rule. As long as Naegi was the one controlling the Monokuma, she wasn't breaking a single rule whatsoever.

In fact, if she continued to let Naegi use the controls to her liking, then she didn't have to worry about any rules from that point forward. Being picky as she was, she always had to make sure that she followed the rules right down to a the grain. However, she was also picky about finding ways around said codes and rules too. For example, if Naegi just "happened" to be the one at the controls, then naturally nothing else could be said and done. After all, Junko wasn't killing anyone herself, so why should she have to worry about violating any rules?

Not only that, but this way, she could have her fun with Kirigiri while watching from the sidelines. She oohed in excitement as she grinned, watching Kirigiri as she ran away from Naegi in fear. Perhaps fear wasn't what she was feeling, but she doubt Kirigiri would be excited about getting tagged by a fully-automated weaponized Monokuma with a flamethrower and a Machine gun.

And just because he had tank legs now, it did nowhere near hamper her progress of possibly torturing and chasing the poor damsel. As of last night, which Kirigiri found out after just coming to one, all the stairs were suddenly slanted. While they were still easy to walk upon without slipping down, they were also conveniently made so the new Monokuma had appropriate access to the stairways as well. No matter which floor one would go, this Monokuma could easily give chase to it.

Kirigiri briefly regretted her decision about trying to lose Monokuma at the stairs. If they were still the way they were, perhaps Kirigiri could simply find a way to stall Monokuma at the stairs while Ikusaba did whatever she was doing at this point. As always, however, she didn't care, much less could she, about the fact the stairs were slanted as long as there was a Monokuma madly chasing after her. All she cared about was buying as much time as she needed.

"Beddur huwwy Naegi," Junko teased in her cutesy tone, "youw mommy's getting awaaaay." She said, tickling the young two-year-old under her chin.

"Gehehheheee!" She chuckled, squirming a little.

Junko found herself smiling down at the two-year-old. She had so many wonderful things planned at this point that all revolved around Naegi. With the number of things she had planned, it just went to show how great her intellect was.

*_WHAM!*_

"Huh?" Junko mumbled turning back towards the door. Not much to her surprise, there stood an irritated and pissed off Ikusaba, her hand still firmly against the door as she glared at her partner. "Oh, hey sis." She mumbled un-amused.

"Ghhhhh!" Ikusaba grumbled as she entered slamming the door behind her. This second banging noise caught the young two-year-old's attention finally.

"Mommy!" She cheered. With a few movements and persuasion, Junko managed to convince the small two-year-old to continue _playing_ while she turned her attention back to her partner.

"So what do you want?" She muttered. She new she was about to hear an annoying "you took Naegi" speech, or something along the lines, from her. She expected it to such a degree that she despaired at the thought. She despaired about pretty much anything up to this point.

"What do you think I want? What the hel-eck," she quickly corrected from cursing, "are you doing up here?!"

Ikusaba advanced closer to the two before stopping. The sight of a pistol in Junko's right hand, which she gingerly had swaying on the side of her arms, made her freeze dead in her tracks. Her sister was practically taunting her at this point as she physically told her what would happen if she got to close.

"I'M, not doing anything." Junko insisted. She smiled as she rubbed her forehead on top of Naegi's. "Dis pwetty wittle giwl is doing it all." She added.

Ikusaba gritted her teeth as she grumbled. Of course this was something Junko came up with. She just loved finding loopholes in her own rules that she could benefit from. She just never thought, herself, that Junko would come up with such a plan like this- one where she could and would easily kill off all the remaining students while never having to get her own hands dirty.

It was rather sickening to Ikusaba that she would think of something.

"Bull crap!" Ikusaba yelled back. "This is your doing and you know it!"

"Huh, really?" Junko poked her chin as if surprised. "In that case, lets put it to a vote how about?" She grabbed Naegi's attention again as she tickled both sides of her chin. "Hey wittle Naegi, who's a happy giwl wight now pwaying with the teddy beaw, huh?" She asked.

"Teeheheehe! Meeeeee!" She cheered excitedly. Just watching this was making Ikusaba's brow twitch. She was insisting how Naegi was the one doing all of this, not her, and Naegi was just cheering proudly while having no idea what she was talking about.

"This is ridiculous." Ikusaba groaned watching over. She paused as she suddenly tensed up, watching Junko's grip on the pistol tighten. Interestingly, it wasn't pointing to Naegi like she thought she was going to, but to Ikusaba herself instead.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Junko asked in a dramatically depressed tone.

"I'm taking Naegi back, that's what." Ikusaba replied firmly.

At the same time, Ikusaba noticed as Kirigiri had come about to the third floor. Kirigiri was a girl with quite a bit of energy about her. She needed it just to keep up the pace and keep away from Naegi, or specifically the Monokuma, who was chasing her. The entire time, she kept leading him around the hallways, all around and out of rooms when she was cornered, and back to the hallways again.

Both Ikusaba and Kirigiri knew she was running out of time. At the rate she was going, she was leading Monokuma in complete circles before heading up to the next floor. Being on the third floor by this point, Kirigiri and Ikusaba only had another couple of minutes before she would be cornered by the fourth floor's gate to the next stair case.

She couldn't just loop around and bring Monokuma back down to the first floor either. By playing this game, she was keeping Monokuma from shooting any of her guns by playing tag. As long as Naegi assumed she had to physically touch Kirigiri, she didn't have to worry about being shot at. The problem was the fact that rule didn't apply to the others in this case. If Naegi ended up seeing them again, she would most likely go full-auto and try to "destroy the evil aliens" with her numerous weaponry.

"Hmm...no." Junko casually shook her head.

"What do you mean no?!" Ikusaba was getting more irritated. She knew they didn't have much time for this.

"You know, no?" Junko twirled the gun in her hand as she lifted her up. "No, nadda, zilch, not, never, not-going-to-happen, take you pick."

"I mean why won't you give back Naegi!"

"Why? Isn't it simple?" She hugged Naegi with excitement. "Cause she's so cuuuuuuuute!" She joked. Ikusaba grumbled more at this. She knew her sister, and never in her life had she done something just because she thought it was cute. She was up to something.

"Ok, now what's the real reason?" Ikusaba asked more firmly. Junko rolled her eyes looking back.

"Isn't it just possible I find her adowabo?" She teased with sparkly eyes..

"After what you did to our dog? No!"

"Aww c'mooooon, are you still made about Fluffy? It was an accideeeeeent." She insisted.

"You ran him over with our car." Ikusaba reminded.

"It was an accident! I just didn't see him."

"Over seven times?!" Ikusaba disbelieved everything about Junko's reasoning.

"Would it make you feel any better if I said it was self-defense?"

Ikusaba rolled her eyes. She had no idea in what world someone like Junko would run a family dog over seven times for self-defense. It was stupid beyond trying to comprehend. "Bull crap. Now give me back Naegi!"

"But I meeeean iiiiiiit! I wanna keep hew." She pouted.

"Huh?"

"Just think about it for a second. We could be one big ol' happy family of despair, riiight?" Ikusaba was actually lowering her guard at this. It sounded a little to convenient to be true.

"W-What?"

"Oh c'moooon. We could let her kill off the rest of the students, and raise her as little happy sisters. Then we could set up this entire game again with her as our host." Junko explained. "And just think, you could get all the little happy time you wanted with raising Naegi and all that."

"Th-...That's bull!" Ikusaba was actually struggling to keep her resolve. "I mean she grows back anyway in a few-"

"No she doesn't." Junko quickly interrupted with a grin. "I could easily mix and change a few things here and there to make the effects permanent and start her off as one year old. Or at least to a point where she'd have to re-grow up all over again." She smiled slyly at her sister. "What do you say?"

Ikusaba... was completely lost her. This sounded a little too good to be true in all honesty. A way to end this student game where she and Naegi live in the end? Sure, she would have to raise Naegi herself all over again, alongside her somewhat demented sister, but in this way she could actually have Naegi all to herself. Not only that but she could also have a somewhat normal family life with her too.

Sure, maybe it wouldn't be normal in the regular sense. By doing this, she would have to raise Naegi in complete isolation from the outside world, with her sister and numerous Monokumas all around the school. After the Tragedy that occurred in the outside world, there was no way any of them could possibly think of leaving and starting up a normal life somewhere else.

What's more, knowing her sister, she was more than likely continue this game again and again with various people around the world who came here for the hope of shelter or something. She didn't truly mind the idea of her sister producing this killing game again, but it was a different story if she continued to do it while raising a child like Naegi around the surrounding area.

All she had to do at this point is let Naegi continue doing what Junko was tricking her into, have her sister regress Naegi once more, and then live out her life while raising Naegi and possibly preparing her to be a future headmaster of this Mutual Killing game.

Honestly, what would life be like if Naegi was re-raised and became the newest headmaster of this place when she was fifteen? (A/N: Epic foreshadowing + available story idea *Hint* *Hint*...).

At that same moment, Kirigiri was all but out of time. She ended up having less time than she accounted for. Initially, the plan was to keep on running up to the fourth floor where she would likely be cornered at that gate's stairway. With all of this going on, she would have at least given Ikusaba a good fifteen-to-twenty minutes to run out and get Naegi back for them. But as always, thing never went to plan.

Apparently Junko was on top of their plan from the very beginning, in fact she may have altered some things just to let Ikusaba up here and no one else. Having ran out of time from where she was, Kirigiri made her way over to the stairway leading up to the fourth floor itself. However, much to her shock and surprise, it was completely sealed off to her. The puppet master knew she was heading up there, and, despite being against the rules from what the students have seen, purposely sealed off the entry to the stairs just to corner Kirigiri.

"Damn...!" Kirigiri muttered to herself, looking straight back. There was no way she could get around Monokuma she headed straight for her. If she tried moving to either side, she risked Neagi accidentally shooting her in the process. From what she can gain to understand, she was planning on burning her alive with the flamethrower as her way of tagging her. She was dead if Naegi got any closer from this point.

"Ikusaba!" Kirigiri shouted. She knew, or at least assumed, that Ikusaba wasn't anywhere near her. If her prediction was correct, she was now wherever Naegi was in Monokuma's control. The only problem she had at that moment was trying to figure out what Ikusaba was doing!

Her scream didn't fall on deaf ears either. Both Junko and Ikusaba looked back to the monitor as they heard the scream. The sight only made Junko smile with more glee, and a minor ounce of wickedness to boot. To be rid of one of the few students who have been causing her the most trouble, and by the one person she truly cared about, all in one. It was like Christmas to Junko, provided Christmas ever brought her happiness to begin with.

"Upupupu!" Junko squealed with joy. "Ok now wittle Naegi, make suwe you tag her nice and hard, o'tay?" She instructed, tickling Naegi to ensure her cooperation. The young Naegi just giggled as she continued moving the stick forward. Ikusaba was still at a loss here.

What should she do? Save Kirigiri and bring Naegi back to normal? Let Naegi finish playing and kill the rest of the students, then live happily ever after inside of this school playing who knows how many Mutual Killing games?! There was a downside and benefit to each.

The benefit was obvious if Ikusaba agreed to Junko's idea. Getting Naegi all to herself, a nice little life of seclusion. She knew her sister would be around too, but knowing her, she would be too busy spreading despair all across the world and to anyone she brought in to the future killing games. The downside is that Ikusaba would be killing off one of Naegi's "mothers" this way. She didn't like Kirigiri mind you, but she did have a somewhat respectful term for the girl.

On the other hand, she could stop Naegi and Junko from going through with it, save Kirigiri and the rest, and continue living the rest of their mutual killing game life, at least for as long as they lived. And as to how long that would be remain unseen at this rate. But at least this way, everyone would continue living as normally as possible in here, and Ikusaba could at least look at herself in a mirror after this.

With a grin, Ikusaba's choice was clear. "Sorry, nothing personal." She announced, walking over to the controls.

Kirigriri's eyes widened briefly before looking away in fear. She couldn't stand to watch her own demise at the hands of Monokuma, especially with her own beloved at the controls of this monster. She also hated herself for ever trusting Ikusaba to begin with. She should have expected her to betray her like this! The only person she hated more was whoever the puppet master was. Whoever took her Naegi away from her, they'd better hope Kirigiri died to good.

Hearing the gears coming closer, Kriigiri clenched her eyelids tightly, unable to look. "Naegi..." She muttered, knowing the end was upon her.

_*beep*_

_*beep*_

_*beep*_

_*beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-BEEPBEEPEBEEPBEEPBEEP-!*_

Kirigiri lifted her head up again in surprise. She only ever heard that familiar beeping sound once in her life. Looking ahead of her, her eyes widened as Monokuma had completely froze. Static and electricity could be seen running berserk all across his body. It began twitching out of control as smoke could be seen coming out of it's numerous joints. With a twitch and a bolt popping out of it's steaming valves, Kirigiri shielded her eyes as the monstrosity suddenly exploded.

Fortunately, it was only a minor explosion, not much. All that was left of the monster was the tank legs Monkuma had grafted on him recently. The only other things remaining after were scraps of metal thrown around the blast radius. A great amount of relief overtook Kirigiri as she sighed. She couldn't believe it; Ikusaba had actually pulled threw for her. On the other side of those controls, that's exactly what she did.

"What?!" Junko screeched in disbelief.

"Yaaa!" Naegi cheered raising her fists. "Boom! Boom!" She giggled. Looking to her left, Junko grumbled angrily as she saw the self-destruct sequence button still under Ikusaba's palm.

"Ikusaba! What the fuck?!" She shouted angrily. Ikusaba said nothing as she took Naegi back into her arms, the girl still giggling at the fun she had.

"Don't curse in front of her you jerk." Ikusaba sneered back.

"What the hell though?! Everything was going perfect!" She growled.

"You were trying to break the rules again by using some stupid loophole! If you're trying to sew despair into the world, you need to do it fairly!" Ikusaba retorted angrily. Junko puckered her lips as she leaned back in her chair. Pistol still in hand, she flexed her fingers together, touching the tip of each one in a wave-like motion.

"Hmm...I see...Verily well then." She said calmly, pointing the gun at Ikusaba. Ikusaba tensed at the sight. She wouldn't be able to counter or react to this in any way possible, least not with Naegi in her arms. "Just remember, you've made me do dis."

"Ngh!" Ikusaba covered Naegi with her body, shutting her eyes tightly.

*_bong*_

*thump*

"Huh?" The minute it was over, Ikusaba looked again. Of all the things to hate about her sister, her lack of humor was one of them. Planted firmly on Ikusaba's forehead was nothing more than a small rubber dart, the kind that sticks to walls and surfaces easily. Looking back again, Ikusaba could only grumble at the sight of her sister holding in her sides, laughing hysterically at Ikusaba's reaction.

"Hahahaha!" She chuckled. "You should've seen the look on your faaace!" She was cracking up.

"Gggghhhhh!" Ikusaba grumbled with a blush, prying the dart from her head and throwing it back to her. She didn't say anything more, just leaving the room as it was. There were so many things she had to yell at her sister for, but it would have to wait until this Mutual Killing game was over...

...

...

...

After waiting for nearly five minutes, Kirigiri's attention shifted to the gate, watching as it was raising back into the ceiling. Although Ikusaba was in the way, she smiled at the sight of Naegi, peacefully sleeping in Ikusaba's arms. They had made it back after all, and without so much as a scratch on Naegi.

"Nice to see one of you back finally." Kirigiri joked. Ikusaba rolled her eyes sticking out her tongue.

"Just be thankful I came back at all with her." She replied. "If you knew opportunity I was presented, you'd be kissing my feet right about now."

"Yeah, sure I would." Kirigiri rolled her eyes back before smiling at the sleeping Naegi in Ikusaba's arms. "Is she okay?"

"Mh hm, she's fine." Ikusaba nodded with a smile. "Wasn't a scratch on her or anything."

"Yeah, speaking of which," Kirigiri gestured back to the destroyed Monokuma's remains, "what do we do about that?"

"Meh, I'm sure it's fine." Ikusaba shrugged her shoulders. "Knowing my partner, they'll just make up some lie about a computer virus or something. Seems most reasonab-"

*_BZZZZZZZZZZZ*_

Both girls were caught off guard as Naegi's body suddenly started glowing. If this were an anime, this would look like one of those scenes you'd get when a monster was evolving. But they both knew, with a smile, what it truly meant.

"She's changing back to normal!" Kirigiri stated happily.

"Yeah!" Ikusaba agreed. For the few seconds that followed, Ikusaba grew a perplexed look on her face as she thought of something. "W-Wait a minute, if she re-grows back into the same size while her clothes are still on, then wouldn't she-"

*_ZZZZZZZZZZT!*_

_*_**_SNNNNNNNNTTTTTT*_**

_***SNNNNNNNNTTTTTT***_

By the time any of the other classmates would find them again, they would find all three girls passed out in a pile. With Ikusaba and Kirigiri would both be knocked out cold with a now-naked Naegi right on top of them, who was completely in the nude. Fortunately, she was at least lying face down as she was out cold.

Strangely, however, both Ikusaba and Kirigiri appeared to be suffering from a strange nosebleed...

...

...

...

A/N: JESUS-CHRIST-ALMIGHTY-ALL-LOREN-SAMUEL-AL-JACKSON-THE-SEVENTEENTH-OF-SPAIN! I'M FINALLY F***ING FINISHED! I'm FINIIIIISHHHHED X*! Augghhghgh gawwwd X*(! I am NEVER doing a bonus episode this long EVER AGAIN! This started out nearly a week ago. It ended now. One single bonus episode.

I don't care if it seems rushed or not. With all I added between the beginning and now, I DONT CARE X(! I'm freaking done for the love of pete almight X*! Awww gawwwwd HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUFF! Phewfta X/...

Now with that out of the way, I have several announcements. One- I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN X(! At least not a bonus episode this long. From now on, I'm STRICTLY sticking to my ONE-SCENE-ONLY rule as far as bonus episodes go X(! Dont' get the wrong idea, I can still make them just as long, but they need to be a singular idea, like the first or second bonus episode idea.

With that in mind I would also like to note that I am NOT doing another bonus episode until we reach 80 or so reviews X/ if I see a nice sized review inbetween then and now, then i'll probably do it for the reviewer for leaving such a nice size ^^ but seriously, I've done nearly 3 chapters worth of bonus episode in a row. Once again, I don't care if this seems rushed towards the end, I say I freaking earned it for doing a nearly 30k total bonus episode thing X(! Ugghghghhh!

Anyway, now we'll move onto the main story once again ^^ So as always, leave a like, review, and enjoy if ya liked ^^ And stay tuned for a future update! I know I'm not a reviewer myself, but I might have my own little "Bonus Episode" idea coming up for this Halloween...*wink* *wink*

PS: Also, yes, I meant my earlier author's note from earlier. If someone's actually interested in the idea I proposed up ahead, then you have my permission to do it, counted you give credit for the idea to yours truly to be fair.

And with that, I'll see you all in the future after my FREAKNIG MIGRAINE GOES AWAY X(


	25. A Freezing Desposition

A/N: What can I say ^^...seriously, what? Oh well. ENJOY ^^!

…

…

…

"_What's the symbol for Copper?"_

"_Um…C…CU."_

"_Correct. What's the atomic weight for Gallium?"_

"_That was…Sixty-nine point…seven…something." _

"_Sixty-nine point seven two three."_

"_Next…"_

"_Name an element that was discovered in 1982."_

"…_Ugggghhh…I don't knooooow…" Naegi groaned, squeezing her hand over her eyes. _

"_It was Meitnerium." Kirigiri said with a sigh. She wasn't sighing at Naegi's attitude towards this, but just from the work they've been put through so far with little results. _

_It was Hope's Peak Academy after all. To know these kinds of things and difficult-to-know questions, it would only be natural for the school to have difficult projects, impossible tests, and hardening assignments for all the students of the academy. While some of them manage to pass these with ease, in part thanks to their talents, others struggled valiantly, refusing to back down whether through sheer determination or other reasons._

_Naegi was one such student._

_She was the Super High School Level Good Luck, but unfortunately, that talent proved nearly useless when it came to school work. The only time it has ever once been proven useful was one day a teacher was sick and the class was allowed to skip a test they had due for the day. The only downside is that it was an easy test, even for Naegi herself to accomplish, and not some difficult or impossible quiz that she would have preferred skipping over. _

_To make matters worse, in place of that test, they were presented with a pop-quiz which was an overview of everything the class had studied for up to that point. And while Naegi did have some degree of understanding, she barely passed the test with a –C, and that was from sheer luck of guessing more than half the true and false questions. _

_Now, she was studying for one of the more high-costing tests. Her grades were on the line, and when it came to the tests within this school, they were a nightmare to her. Multiple choice by the dozen, nearly twenty true-or-false questionnaires, questions that weren't even covered during the course of the review, nothing but a nightmare._

_No matter how hard Naegi studied, the best she ever came out with was a solid B. A grade that proved that she was just average to the eyes of the other students. All around, she would mentally groan and frown at the sight of the A's and other grades the student would come across. They would always have their talents helping them behind the scenes in some way, whether through connections or personal use. Even the students whose talents had nothing to do with the subject, they at least managed to come out with a usual B or so more often than Naegi. _

_Naegi never gave up at least. It was a quality Kirigiri admired since meeting her again here. No matter how hard things got, no matter how impossible it would seem for the average Naegi, she at least put an effort into getting it done to the best of her ability. Not many students had that quality, even those with the most superb of talents._

_It was something that separated Naegi from the rest to them, at least to Kirigiri it did. It made her stick out from the rest of the crowd, as if she was a single person pointed out within a crowd of people. No matter how much others looked down at her with her constant struggling and failures, Kirigiri would continue to support Naegi every step of the way. _

_And now that she had more friends than before, she wasn't the only one either. With her friends like Asahina and Ikusaba hanging around, she had more company and support helping her nowadays. Her grades weren't fairing much better, but she at least managed to pull through with more B's than she used to. _

_Owada tried helping too from time to time, but he was more of a bodyguard-type assistant to her. With Naegi's past history of the school's students, even after she made friends, she was constantly picked on through the halls whenever the time was right for her harassers. While some of it was just the typical name calling and picking, others actually harassed her to a greater degree, bullying her and threatening her to do things for them._

_But if Owada was around her, none of them even dared to think of bullying her. Owada's title, appearance, personality, everything about him was feared by a majority of the students, even some staff. Naegi, however, was one of the few kinder students who saw Owada's kinder side. Those like Naegi saw passed Owada's demeanor and saw him as a nice person who was just trying to get by in school like the rest of them. _

_Owada even had the same feelings for Naegi at the time. He liked how she actually treated him and saw him as a person instead of a brute. It was a much warmer feeling than the one the rest of the students gave him._

_Her friends were there to help her. Like Kirigiri was doing in her bedroom at the time, they would help Naegi whenever she needed it. No matter how much Naegi struggled like she did now, she would continue giving her hundred-percent effort. _

_Just like she was now as she lied on Kirigiri's bed on her back. Her head dangling over the edge of the bed itself, with a small exhausted frown on her face as they continued studying…well, at least Naegi was at the time. Kirigiri was already set for the test, explaining how she now had the opportunity to work with Naegi, as well as spend some time with her. Hence why she was sitting casually in a lounge chair in her room. _

"_This is such a headache…" Naegi groaned. She wouldn't give up, but it didn't keep her from the occasional moan or complaint. Kirigiri gave her a sympathetic smile._

"_Hey, you're doing great!" She encouraged. "You covered most of the advanced stuff already."_

"_But it's pointless as of now." Naegi stated. Kirigiir was a bit surprised by these choice of words. Not once in her time with Naegi did she ever say something so closely related to giving up. _

"_Pointless?" Kirigiri asked, wanting to make sure she heard right. "You're saying it's pointless now?"_

"_Not this itself, just… continuing on." Naegi moaned, turning onto her front as her head lowered. _

"_What do you mean? You're not the kind to usually give up like this you know." Kirigiri said proudly. Naegi wasn't a quitter no matter how hard it was, and she wanted to assure Naegi of that._

"_I'm not talking about this already." Naegi repeated. Her frown deepened as she crossed her arms, resting her chin in-between them. "I had a talk with the Headmaster this morning." She replied._

_The light-violet-haired girl's eyes widened at this. Usually, her father would talk to her from time to time if a student was having difficulty in a subject. During those times, Kirigiri would drop in to assist them with their troubles. And in exchange, he would overlook "minor" issues she ended up causing, like when she dislocated a student's arm several days ago while defending Naegi. _

_But now, some bit of info went through her dad that didn't reach her. It wasn't like her dad to keep info away from her, even with her history with him, but she at least had a chat with him every now and then. So why didn't she tell her anything about meeting with Naegi recently?_

_Fortunately, Naegi was one of the many students who were unaware of her relationship to her father, so she managed to complete her tasks and duties for him without anyone else realizing how she knew or why._

"_W-What…What did you speak to him about?" Kirigiri asked curiously. She could see the stress and sadness in Naegi's eyes for the few moments she remained silent. It didn't bold well for her. _

"_H-He…" Naegi lowered her gaze down to her arms. "He talked to me about my grades recently." _

"_Huh?" Kirigiri raised a brow. She definitely didn't hear anything bad about them. "But what's wrong with them? They're doing fine, aren't they?" Naegi looked up to her._

"_Well yeah, they're doing fine and all. The problem has to do with the quiz and tests scores." Naegi sighed._

"_Look, it's alright, I promise." Kirigiri walked her way over to the bed, sitting next to Naegi as she smiled. "I'll help with any of the tests you have worries for."  
><em>

"_It's not the recent tests that worry him or me." Naegi replied, flipping herself so she was sitting straight again. "It's the future one coming up." _

"_Future one-?"_

"_The Yearly Exams." Kirigiri's mouth opened with a nod as she finally understood. _

_She got the gist of what the problem was now. The Yearly Exams were the school's most prominent and toughest tests and quizzes present to the students at least once a year. They were literally a case of a make-it-or-break-it test. Consisting of nearly 60% of a student's __**entire**__ grade, they could deeply change the outcome of one's life at Hope's Peak Academy._

_You could end up having a straight forward F in all subjects, yet if you got a passing A on the exams, you could bring up the grade of all subjects to a solid C+. It didn't even matter if you missed all your subjects and assignments, the exams could literally save your grade. _

_Not only that, but it was a complete case of affecting one's future. If you failed these tests, or you didn't end the exams with a grade-point-average with a passing grade in all your subjects, not only would you fail the tests and courses, you would be kicked out of Hope's Peak itself! _

_The idea of it filled Kirigiri with almost as much worry as Naegi. If she was kicked out, Kirigiri would never see her again! To have actually come across Naegi after all these years, she would die inside if she lost Naegi again._

_To make matters worse, and more serious, it would entirely affect Naegi's entire future. If she failed here, her GPA and standards would be presented for any and all resumes and jobs. They would know that she failed in this prodigious school, and they would always turn her away for the rest of her life. She'd be lucky enough to end up with a high-paying Minimum-Wage job at all._

"_I need a strong grade to pass this school year." Naegi continued, her head lowered as she stared at the floor. "If I don't pass with a solid B+ or higher… I'll flunk out."_

_Kirigiri was deeply worried for Naegi. Naegi wasn't a bad student, that was a fact. She had some subjects she excelled at, at least compared to her other subjects, with at least a passing B. But the Yearly Exams were a nightmare to any and all student, no matter the subject. They covered all subjects, all fields, and all courses throughout the year, even including things not even mentioned in some courses. _

_The exam was a monster, and that was putting it lightly. _

"_W-Well…" Kirigiri rubbed her chin gently as she tried to think. She needed to keep Naegi encouraged while finding the right words. She needed to figure out how to encourage her while knowing what a true nightmare the Yearly Exams are. "T-They aren't so bad!" She patted Naegi's left shoulder. "If we work on improving these grades, then there will be no worry about-"_

"_I need a solid B+ to pass- and that's ONLY if I improve my other grades too." Naegi added. She pulled her legs up to the bed, curling her knees up and hugging them tightly. "I have a single month between now and then to improve my grades and pass the Exams, or I'll fail." She moaned tucking her face into her legs. _

"_Naegi…" Kirigiri understood her pain. It wasn't just a matter of studying for the test. The problem was that between now and next month, Naegi would not only need time to study for the Exam, she would also need the time to help improve her other grades and make-up assignments and pass the other tests they had for the subjects WHILE studying for the final. _

_She wouldn't have a moment's peace to relax or rest at all if she wanted to pass at this point. _

_With a small smile, Kirigiri pulled Naegi into a small hug, resting her chin on Naegi's shoulder. "It'll be alright Naegi, I promise." Naegi raised her head a little to look at her. "I promise to help you as much as possible until the Exam."_

"_B-But what about the time?" Naegi asked worriedly. "You don't have all the time to help me study you know." Not to be rude, but Kirigiri knew she was right. She also had her own classes and assignments to deal with. She still smiled assuring though. _

"_Don't worry, you have friends and I know some people. We'll all help you out until the Exam." She held out her pinkie with a warm smile. "I promise." _

_Naegi actually smiled at this. It was a warm, heartfelt promise she was making. It was times like this Naegi was surprised Kirigiri even liked her, much less became her friend so quickly, at this point. Only several weeks even after starting this school, Kirigiri was almost instantly her friend. She always hung out whenever possible, chatted to Naegi about one another's problems, and so forth. _

_It was a nice experience for Naegi, one she needed to keep herself motivated and going. With friends like Kirigiri, Ikusaba, Asahina, and all the others, she felt like she could truly press onward. _

_It gave her Hope. _

_With a smile, Naegi wrapped her pinkie around Kirigiri's, both shaking their hand in agreement. _

"_It's a promise."_

...

...

...

"T-That's insane! You'll kill us!" Asahina stammered.

And she was right to be freaked out at this time.

The day started off like no other, and quite literally at that. Just this morning, upon waking up, everyone was startled to discover that they were all naked! Well, to the point where they were clothed in nothing left but their undergarments, but the point remains the same. They were even more surprised that everyone else had just as much been effected as well.

It wasn't even limited to their clothing either. Blankets, towels, anything and everything that could be used to wrap themselves up in, was all missing. This surprised the almost-naked students even more, but not as much as the fact they just woke up naked. And it was all thanks to a certain Monokuma who gassed them in their sleep to undress them.

He made it official that he was very careful when undressing everyone as well.

On top of all that, they later made another shocking discovery once everyone regrouped inside the lunchroom for the regular morning meeting. The entire motive for the next murder wasn't just limited to a lack of clothing and blankets. It was during that conversation that they discovered that Monokuma had lowered the temperature of the school dramatically, and it was getting lower each and every hour.

It was quite a shock to the eight remaining students. Whereas previous motives contended with a belief or trying to get into the students' minds, this one was a lot more direct. To virtually give everyone a time limit for the next murder was unthinkable.

If that wasn't enough, it was even more exhausting to understand once they realized how severe the temperature was dropping. With a dramatic drop of 5 degrees by the hour, it was a life-or-death scenario the group was facing at this moment.

As Celes detailed earlier on, if the murder had not occurred within twenty-four hours, then they would all freeze to death.

"What the fuck man!" Owada shouted angrily. "You can't do this!"

"I beg to differ!" Monokuma growled. "I happen to be the headmaster, remember? What I say, goes." He stated. He had a sly smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "And don't go thinking I'm being too demanding here. After all, I could just as easily make it a rule that someone has to die everyday, or else everyone will. Wouldn't that be something?"

"But this is still unfair!" Ikusaba yelled. Monokuma looked intently at her. It wasn't just Monokuma himself she was speaking with, but the person behind the controls. "Even something like this, i-it's..." Ikusaba couldn't even tell how to word it right. She had so much anger building up at the moment, but she needed to keep her head clear so as to not blow her cover. "This is cheating!"

Kirigiri looked at Ikusaba was a strange curiosity. She knew Ikusaba's secret, like how she was working for the puppet master. But even with this, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of rightness in her words. It wasn't a simple matter of her being right either. The way Ikusaba yelled at Monokuma at that moment, the urgency in her words. It was like she was actually speaking against the puppet master themselves.

This thought really confused Kirigiri as well. She knew better than to start getting her hopes up, but how could she describe this scene? For a split second to her, it looked as if Ikusaba was actually speaking out against the puppet master, like she was _actually_ on their side for once, and not just acting like it.

Kirigiri knew better than to begin trusting her, yet it didn't hurt to believe for a second that she might be on their side.

"Well little missy, if you have any complaints, take it up with the complaint department." Monokuma said sternly. "Besides, it's not like I'm actually **forcing** you guys to do anything. Killing someone is totally up to you! I'm just giving you guys a little nudge, but I'm not forcing anyone on my end." He replied casually. Ikusaba began to feel a pang in her heart.

_What the fuck is wrong with you sis?!_ She screamed inside her head. She was so tempted to bolt from there and meet her face to face in the Data Processing Room, but she knew the minute she did, not only would her cover be blown, but her partner would more than likely lock her out as well. It wouldn't benefit anyone at the time. Her only choice was to play along for the time being.

"The fuck you're not forcing us!" Owada shouted with rage. "You're basically forcing us between killing one of us or having us all die at once!"

"Whaaaat?!" Yamada screeched upon waking up. Several times now, he has passed out and regained consciousness after gazing a few of the near-naked beauties that beheld them. And only after gazing Ikusaba and Kirigiri in the nude like the rest, did he pass out once more, experiencing heaven. "Oougghhh..." Yamada sighed in peace.

"But you're breaking your own rules!" Naegi yelled out, still being carried on Ikuasba's back. "We haven't broken any rules and you're killing us off for your next motive! It's unfair!"

"Upupupu!" Monokuma chuckled. "I beg to differ. I'm not going to drop it down to lethal temperatures obviously." He stated.

"You aren't?" Asahina tilted her head surprised. Up till this point, everyone had figured that Monokuma would drop the temperatures to an extreme cold. Their small amount of hope wouldn't last forever, as they were about to find out.

"Of course not! I'm a fair bear." He said. "I'll just drop it to a -5 degrees!"

"W-What?! That will kill us!" Asahina stammered.

"Actually, Asahina, he's telling the truth." Celes retorted.

"What?" Asahina looked back to Celes with a sense of doubt. "There's no way we can live through that!"

"It will be uncomfortable, yes, but it won't be enough to kill us outright." Celes replied.

"Ok, now you lost me..." Owada scratched the back of his head, trying to get a better understanding of the confusion.

"It's simply a matter of the rules." Celes said with a smile. "The temperature will be at a severe degree. However, it won't be enough to kill us on it's own."

"T-Then we're good, right?" Asahina asked scratching her chin. "Even if it's not comfortable, w-we won't die, right? So we'll be fine?"

"On the contrary, we'll die in a matter of a day or two." Celes smiled diligently. "There is only one way to prevent a death, and I don't see many of us managing that long."

"And... What way would that be?" Asahina asked hesitantly. She didn't want to hear some response related to killing Sakura, but she wanted to find any means necessary to prevent the next death.

"It all comes down to staying awake if you must know." Celes replied.

"Staying...awake?" Naegi tilted her head at this.

"During these temperatures, it's most crucial that one stays awake. Otherwise-"

"You'll never be waking up." Monokuma finished with a grin.

Everyone else froze at this, pun unintended. This was insane, and for more than the usual reason when it came to this place! For once, Monokuma was literally enforcing a motive where it was kill or be killed. This wasn't like the other ones where he attempted to persuade or blackmail someone into committing a murder, this was literally enforcing it. There was no blackmailing, no persuasion, and no bribery. The only _persuasion _they had in this case was choosing between their lives and Oogami's.

As if that wasn't enough, the rule where Oogami was the only one allowed to be the killer was completely unjustified. Even if someone had wanted to kill to survive, to try and kill Oogami of all people?! They might as well have declared war on the puppet master themselves. Not only that, but Oogami could do nothing in return for this either. On the very unlikely chance she decided to defend herself, in other words kill her attacker, it would be obvious then that she was the killer, since no one else but Oogami can be the victim unless Oogami defended herself.

It was as if the puppet master had it directly out for her this entire time. One way or another, Oogami was guaranteed to be one of the two people to die by the end of all things, whether through a murder, or through a class trial. There were so many things unfair about this that even Ikusaba didn't know what to think. Had her sister completely lost it? Was she purposely trying to kill off the students more frequently for some reason?

It was almost impossible to tell from someone like her. All Ikusaba knew at this point was that she needed to keep a closer eye on Naegi from now on. There was no telling what she would try to do from this point onward.

"Now, now, don't let life get you down... or killed." Monokuma said with a sly grin. "If it makes you feel any better, I've made a little something to cheer you all up." Despite the doubts in peoples' minds, there was a hint of eagerness in everyone's minds. They watched closely as he dug through his back pockets, wherever that would be, hoping it would be some form of warmth or something to keep their energy up during the oncoming cold. To their confusion, however, all he pulled out were a stack of papers. "Tadaaaaa!" He cheered.

"What are they?" Celes asked, looking at one piece of the papers.

"Cheat sheets!" Monokuma replied gleefully. "Now I know what you might be thinking, Oogami is so strong, we'll never manage to pull off the murder, but with these babies, you'll be able to kill her before-"

*_riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip*_

"Hey!" Monokuma screeched angrily, watching as Celes tore the piece of paper apart. Everyone else was actually enjoying this particular sight. From what they thought would bring them joy, instead, Monokuma's recent gift only fueled them with more anger and hate.

"It's an interesting thought, but I think we'll take our chances." Celes stated firmly.

"Aww c'mon, it won't be that easy to off the big ogre ya know." Monokuma grinned.

"Forget it, we're not doing it!" Asahina shouted angrily.

"The chicks right," Owada nodded in agreement, "besides, there's plenty of ways to keep warm you know."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Monokuma gasped quietly. "Before any of you heroic types try keeping yourselves warmed up in the sauna or something, I think you might be having a lit-L trouble with that." He tried concealing the growing grin on his face with little results.

"Why's that?" Owada had an uneasy feeling that he knew the answer already, but he wanted to stay hopeful. Unfortunately, hope was not welcomed in this case.

"Because, as surprising as I found it, someone just **happened** to have accidentally locked all access to the public bathhouse." Monokuma replied. He was a little too eager to do so it seemed. "And to put the icing on top, we appear to be having a slight plumbing problem, so all the showers and other utilities have also been rendered useless."

"That's not fair!" Naegi complained angrily "You're just getting rid of anything that can provide heat or warmth!"

"Naegi's right!" Asahina nodded in agreement. "I mean it's one thing to take our clothes and blankets away, but you're making things completely unfair by taking away any of the hot water too!"

"Hey! Don't get grouchy with me!" Monokuma grumbled. "Besides, there's nothin' unfair about it! I mean, did the cavemen have hot water? Did the folks in the early ages of civilization have a convenient hot tub lying around? You just got to be creative, like Celes here." All eyes turned back to Celes for a moment.

They got what he was saying, but it didn't make it anymore right for him to take everyone else's clothing or blankets all the same. When it came to Celes, she was rather inventive, and somewhat disturbing, as she ripped apart her own pillow, using the outer cloth as a means to cover her chest. Even though it was only a fair size, roughly about the size of a small T-shirt, it did at least provide some form of warmth, however miniscule it might be.

"As long as everyone's using their noggin, I'm sure even Owada here will be able to think of something." Monokuma teased.

"Hey!"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to enjoy the nice, comfortable, warmth, of the fifth floor." Monokuma continued, trying to rile up the students with the mention of heat. "It'll be nice and cozy where I am. Maybe I'll even have myself a nice hot cup of cocoa while waiting for the next murder to occur-

"Will you just get out of here!" Asahina stammered angrily. She was actually getting angrier by mentioning anything that included warmth rather than the fact he took all her clothes this morning.

"Caaaaan do!" Monokuma said with a salute before diving into the floorboards like he usually does.

"Geeh! I hate that fucking bear!" Owada yelled squeezing his fists. "I swear to god, he makes it more and more tempting each day to just bash his face in!"

"You need to control yourself, Owada." Kirigiri stated. "You wouldn't be able to avenge anyone by getting yourself killed, especially Ishimaru."

"Ghhh I know..." He groaned rubbing his neck. "That guy just pisses me off so much lately."

"Well save your anger for later." Ikusaba tried to help calm down. "Right now we need to figure out what to do."

"I'm not sure there is anything we can do." From the way Celes spoke, it almost sound pessimistic, but coming from someone like her, she was being quite serious. "The rules are as followed; until the next murder happens, the temperature will continue to drop till it's -5 degrees. By that point, if any of us fall asleep, we'll most likely die."

Asahina gritted her teeth with a frown. Obviously the stress from hearing about how they had to kill Oogami again and again was getting to her. She would absolutely, no matter what, kill Oogami, but she didn't know about the other students around her. She trusted her friends with all her might, yet that always proved to backfire when it came to the previous trials. And this time around, the motive for the murder was a serious case of life or death. Practically anyone could become the next murderer!

What really made things on edge for her was the fact the motive wasn't the only excuse a killer would have to murder Oogami. There was also the fact that she was revealed to be a traitor for the puppet master only yesterday. That combined with this life-or-death motive, there was no way someone could go without thinking of a murder. At least, that's what she kept thinking to herself.

"I am truly sorry to all of you." Oogami lowered her head in shame. "It was only because of my actions, that you all find yourself in this position."

"I-It's not your fault!" Asahina insisted. She was just as sure of it herself as much as she tried to assure Oogami. "You're just as much a victim here as the rest of us!"

"Yeah, what she said." Owada nodded with a smile. "So the dumb toy's gonna lower the temperature a notch, big whoop. We'll just find a way to live with it until we figure out what to do."

"As a first-class Soldier, I can guarantee there are numerous ways to stay warm." Ikusaba smiled to the group. "Whether out in the jungle, or in an open street, I can name virtually dozens of different ways of staying warm. And considering we're inside a school with a bunch of utilities, I can name ten times that amount!"

Many students were already starting to warm up just from the idea of it. If there truly were a number of ways to keep warm during this crisis, then everything should be okay. Sure, some of them might be a little uncomfortable with the noticeable lack of clothing all around them, but it would be a small price to pay if it prevented another murder from occurring.

There was one additional catch, however, that none of them saw coming.

*_spppppzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt*_

"**Ahhhhhh!**" Several of the girls screamed in unison as they were suddenly doused with water.

Not just them, but everywhere across the lunchroom, the sprinkles began to shower the entirety of the room with freezing cold water. There wasn't a fire, nor a fire alarm explaining the situation with this. All there was was a sudden flash dousing of cold water, which lasted for an entire minute before shutting off.

Once the water came off, only then did everyone truly know the coldness of space, or the temperature at what Monokuma set it at. It was like being struck with a strong cool breeze of wind, swirling across their bodies and causing goose bumps all around. Not a single part of their body was left without a chill, the coldness of the air only affecting them more as the driplets of water trickled down their bodies.

Some of them managed to ignore it. Those like Asahina or Ikusaba, who were used to being splashed with a freezing cold water, and then feel the air blowing around them, barely paid it any mind. Others like Naegi and Celes, however, couldn't go on without shivering, the cold breeze of the surrounding air making it feel like they were in a freezer all of a sudden. And to others like Kirigiri and Oowada, who felt the occasional breeze, were rather passive to it. They didn't like the cold they were feeling, but at the same time, they weren't necessarily reacting to it either.

All anyone cared about as of now was figuring out one important question.

"What the fuck?!" Owada shouted as he wiped the water from his eyes. Yamada's eyes bugged out as he finally awoke with a shake.

"Aaaacck!" He screeched, shivering all around. "What happened?!

"T-Th-The sp-sprinklers c-came on!" Naegi's teeth chattered as she spoke. Ikusaba shifted her eyes back worriedly.

"Just hang on Naegi, I'll find some way to warm us up.

"Oooh, how unexpected." The monitor caught everyone's attention as it came on. As was tradition by this point, Monokuma was sitting in a lounge chair, grinning with a martini in his paw. "It appears our pipe-related problem extends to our sprinkler system too. Why, it seems that the sprinklers just _accidentally_ set themselves off."

"You ass!" Asahina yelled. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"

"Hmm?" Monokuma rubbed his chin. "What, you mean this?"

*click*

*_sppppppppzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt*_

"Ahhhh!" Asahina yelped as the water entered her eyes. "Yes, that!"

The water felt even colder than it did last time, but that was more likely from the breeze as the temperature continued to slowly drop.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just making sure." Monokuma swayed his other paw uncaringly. "You see despite my efforts, I just can't seem to get the water fixed. In fact, and this is _just_ my prediction, that the sprinklers may end up going off every few hours."

"Ok, now you really are cheating damn it!" Owada grumbled.

It appeared Monokuma had a tendency to make things worse as they continued. Feeling like everyone's hopeful wishes and optimism wasn't welcoming, he decided to kick things up a notch. Now, in addition to the fact the temperature was continuing to drop, all the potential sources of hot water was obsolete, and having taken everyone's main clothing and blankets which could provide warmth, he now had the ingenious idea of splashing everyone with cold water every few hours.

The water itself wasn't exactly the cold to be accurate. The issue came with the breeze they all felt after the water finished sprinkling them. Being struck instantly with that flash of cold air, it was literally a case of stepping out of a frying pan and into the freezer. The only difference being that this freezer continued to get colder as time went on, not at a set temperature.

"Wah, wah, wah, blow it out your ears bud." Monokuma hadn't a care in the world. And it was for this reason that Ikuasba found herself baffled.

_"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"_ She shouted in her head.

This wasn't right on a massive scale. Just what was her partner trying to do?! In a normal circumstance, they'd let the sparks fly while watching any of their interesting motives play out. Then they took the joy of slowly seeing everyone's sanity dwindle little by little. If they, the classmates, needed a push, they would find some way to spice things up like adding a catch or making it easier for the next killer to find a way to potentially get away with the murder. Up to this point, they never managed to of course, but there was always next time.

But the way they were doing it now? This was completely unheard of to Ikusaba. They wouldn't normally force themselves to choose between killing and their own death. It was unfair! Practically cheating! How was Ikusaba and her partner supposed to sew despair into the world if they just bent the rules whenever necessary? It wouldn't. All it would do is prove that despair was weaker than hope, and that it couldn't win unless it bended the rules and cheated.

Something was definitely wrong with her sister.

"If it makes any of you feel better," Monokuma continued, "the temperature is now 49.8 degrees. Have fun with that info."

He wished before turning himself off.

The silence was only brief as everyone wanted to figure out a plan.

"Great." Asahina groaned.

"Well what the hel-" Owada paused as he breathed. He wouldn't expect it to actually become this cold, but it was. He could actually see his own breath.

Alarms went off in everyone's head, all of them trying to take a quick breath. One after another, they all watched in terror as they could see their own breath in the still-freezing air. It was a painful reminder to both their body and their mind that it was getting colder by the minute. It was only thanks to the additional humidity provided by the sprinklers that made it possible. And it was only continuing to get colder.

"Tch, y-you gotta be kidding me!" Owada gritted his teeth as he started shivering. Celes couldn't help but shake as well, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. She found it rather embarrassing for herself, showing any hint of weakness.

"Apparently, the headmaster seems to be in a rush." Celes commented. "He's really trying to push for a murder this time around."

"Ok, I'm serious when I say it this time, fuck the rules!" Owada's fist shook in anger, or perhaps it was from the shivers he was getting. It was too hard to tell at this point. "He's going way too far this time around!"

"I'd have to agree with M-M-Master M-Mo-Mondo Owa-Owada with this." Yamada's teeth chattered as he spoke. "T-This is unlike the headmaster's usual planning."

"Do you think he's getting desperate?" Asahina wondered. It would be the only explanation to why Monokuma has pushed so hard for the next murder.

"Desperate from what?" Kirigiri asked curiously. "As far as we're concerned, no ones coming for us anytime soon, and even if they did, those turrets at the doorway look a little too real to be fake."

"I've seen turrets before at work." Ikusaba added frowning. "There's no way you could even bulldoze through those things without a tank."

"Yeaawwwhn..." Naegi rubbed her eyes sleepily, trying to agree with a yawn mixed into her speech. "We need...'thumthin'..." Her words slurred as her eyes drooped slightly. The others turned to her slightly worried.

"Naegi?" Ikusaba tried speaking louder to get her attention.

"Are you actually getting sleepy despite this cold?" Asahina was mildly surprised. She expected the cold to bother just about anyone, but she didn't think anyone would be capable of sleeping through this freezing air.

"Ngh...N-No, sorry." Naegi rubbed her eyes trying to wake up more. "I'm just... feeling really tired all of a sudden."

"Ikusaba, I recommend you have Naegi stand right about now." Celes told her firmly. Ikusaba eyed her confused, wondering why she was sounding so firm for.

"Why?" Celes returned Ikusaba's question with a calming smile.

"Because unless you'd wish for her to fall asleep and freeze to death, I think it would be better for everyone if you did as I say."

Ikusaba's eyes immediately widened at this. She wanted to question her further, but simply hearing how Naegi's death was a concern to the subject was enough to make her silent. She quickly kneeled down as she had Naegi get off. Still wanting to keep her somewhat warm, even though it was drenched by this point, she quickly handed Naegi the pillow to cover herself, standing behind her to help at least provide some blockage from the cool wind, wrapping her arms warming around her neck to help keep her warm.

And it was a useful excuse to see Naegi's cute butt from behind her, which irritated Kirigiri as her brow twitched.

No sooner had Ikusaba stood behind her did Naegi begin to awaken more. Her legs felt a little numb from the chill, having rested on Ikusaba's back up to this point, but the feeling of the cool air brought her sense of feeling back to her legs faster. And even though it was wet, the pillow did at least provide some resistance from the chilling wind all around her.

"Whoo..." Naegi blinked as she woke herself up more. "I'm awake now, don't worry." She said, smiling back to Ikusaba who looked upon her worriedly. She had a small smile she returned to Naegi, but it didn't make her feel any better at the mention of Naegi's close slumber.

"How could you fall asleep in this cold?" Asahina asked curiously. "I can handle the temperature for now, but I don't think I could sleep through it."

"I don't know." Naegi shrugged. "I was just feeling a little sleepy, that's all."

"Circadian Rhythms." Celes spoke.

"Circadian Rhythms?" Asahina poked her chin.

"It's simply another way to describe one's body clock for then they sleep. When they feel sleepy, one's body tends to lower in temperature. At the same time, if someone feels cold, they will start to feel sleepy because their body's internal clock is used to falling asleep at said temperature." Celes explained.

Everyone was lost for words at that. It wasn't from the shock or surprise from Celes' explanation that threw them off, what really surprised them was how informative and detailed she was about a state of the human body. For a gambler, none of them considered her to be so informative about the human body at the same time.

It was still as confusing to everyone though.

"So... What does that mean?" Yamada asked, actually more confused after hearing the explanation.

"To clarify even further, it simply means we're all likely to fall asleep in this weather if we lie down for anything." She stated.

Now everyone knew what this meant. If any of them chose to lie down, much less sat, for any reason during this cold, they were likely to fall asleep, and this would leave to one's death.

"You mean we can't even sit down for anything with this cold?!" Yamada stammered, his jaw dropping in shock. It appeared to be stuck like that for some reason as he continued making some hacking noise from his throat, most likely due from freezing from the chill.

"Not unless you have someone to ensure you stay awake." Celes replied.

"So what? Why don't we just stick in the groups Kirigiri set up yesterday?" Naegi suggested. "We wouldn't have to worry about falling asleep while someone else is around us then."

"Ummm...no..." Owada had his hand covering his nose lightly as he turned away.

"Huh? What do you mean no?"

"W-Well... If we did that, we'd all be with the same partners we were with before, right?" That did seem like the general idea to Naegi.

"Yeah...why?"

"That's just it then." Owada turned away again with a light blush. "T-That would mean Me, Yamada, and Asahina would be in the same group, but... W-We can"t group with her like this."

Naegi glanced at Asahina, unable to see what the issue was. "What? Because of her undergarments? Just grow up or get over them you guys."

Naegi didn't seem to have the right idea of the issue, not that he rest of the female cast did either. "Y-You still don't understand though." Owada's blush deepened a little, still trying to look away from the _issue_ himself. "I-It's not the undergarments, it's j-just..."

"Just what?"

"The cold is making her nipples stick out." Yamada bluntly stated.

"YAMADA!" Owada shouted angrily, face now full of a red flush. The very same flush covered the entirety of Asahina's face as her eyes widened. Quickly looking down, she let out a shriek as she hastily doubled over, covering her chest tightly.

_**"Eek!"**_ She yelped. _**"You perverts!"**_ Her lips trembled from pent up frustration as well as the sheer embarrassment of the matter. It wasn't entirely surprising to see how the issue came to be. After all, in most cases, such a scene was to be expected from a woman's sensitive areas to become..._rigid_, when exposed to a freezing atmosphere like this.

The other girls, save for Oogami, Naegi, and Ikusaba who already had some form of protection covering their chest, quickly looked down at their own with a small blush. Given that their breasts were as _luscious_ as Asahina's, they couldn't tell if their own chest was dealing with the same issue, but they didn't want to take the chance as they covered their own chests tightly. Even though Celes already had a pillow casing covering hers, she didn't want to take any chance for the boys to notice this detail, especially Yamada of all people who had no shame of saying something like the word "nipples" in front of a bunch of girls.

Owada eyed back to Asahina for only a moment before covering his nose, feeling a small trail of blood leaking from it. "Ahhh! Don't bend over like that, p-please!" He begged. Now with Asahina bent over, it only allowed a clearer view of her cleavage which easily stuck out from her angle.

"Well quit looking!" Asahina teared up from the embarrassment, closing her eyes tightly.

"Or please continue making that pose." Yamada said with a drooling grin.

_***Wham!***_

"Ouch!" Yamada yelped, covering the newly formed bruise on his head from where Owada left his fist mark.

"Dude, show some fucking dignity for Pete sake!" He shouted.

"I'm just trying to think of warm thoughts!" Yamada cried out.

"Then think of a stupid fire damn it!" Asahina screeched, still in tears. Yamada thought to himself as he tried to picture the warmest scene in his mind. Whatever he thought of now made him grin even deeper.

"Ahh, perfect idea." Yamada's glasses shined as he grinned. "I can see it now...a warm wooden cabin with a fireplace...keeping me safe from the frozen blizzard going on outside..."

Just the mention of him saying these things already put the rest of the group at ease. They all smiled to themselves as they could practically feel the warmth of the fire as they all pictured it in their own mind. Some of them actually began to warm up just from picturing the idea alone, and the addition of a wooden cabin was easy to detail in their heads. From numerous times whenever it came to a sitcom, movie, or even cartoon, it was easy to think of what a cabin would look like.

There was just one detail that Yamada couldn't help but add.

"And there, Master Aoi Asahina, would be sprawled up on her front, in the nude-"

"YAMADA!" Owada shouted again as Asahina lowered her head. There was no way to account the amount of embarrassment that was befalling on her. Yamada was lost in his own paradise.

"-and then she would ask me, to make-"

_*yank*_

Yamada may have acted like a perv at times, but at least he had his limits when it came to knowing when to stop. Like now for example. The feeling of the suddenly-hard squeeze he felt at the top of his head where his head pointed up, it was a pretty good signal to know when to stop. With about six of the other students all within his view and one missing, he shook nervously and frightened as he knew who the most likely candidate was for squeezing his hair. That added with the intense aura he felt burning behind him, he knew there was only one person who could terrify him to such a degree.

All he could do was gulp at that moment, unable to stop the shaking as he stood frozen in place.

"Get those sickening thoughts of Asahina out of your head right now before I guarantee you'll never have children!" Oogami roared angrily. Yamada didn't have to be told twice, especially from someone like her. In fact, he'd preferred not being told even once from the likes of her.

"Egehehhhehhh...I-I-I don't know w-what you're talking a-about. I-I'm just thinking of a campfire, no one else." He stuttered. He felt no relief as Oogami released her grip of him- she had THAT terrifying of a presence to him.

"Perhaps now we should get back to the matter of the motive?" Celes said with a shiver. "Or perhaps you have another idea you'd wish to share with us?" She said gesturing to Ikusaba. Ikusaba frowned a little shaking her head.

"N-Not anymore." She replied depressingly. "M-Most of my i-ideas to stay warm involved n-not getting anything we-wet at the time. I-If he keeps using the st-stupid sprinklers, i-it won't work."

"Hmm...how nice." Celes's voice spoke with a blatant hint of sarcasm. Clearly she was just as depressed at the new details as the rest of them were.

"So now what? Are we gonna smash some shit or what?" Owada yelled cracking his knuckles. He wasn't trying to sound aggressive at that point, but he was getting pissed with all the drawbacks they kept coming across.

"Don't forget the fact we can't even risk sitting down or resting without falling asleep." Celes reminded. "Whatever happens, we would need to do it soon within the next twelve hours. I don't think many of us can risk staying awake for so long in these conditions.

Ikusaba shifted her eyes down to Naegi at this. Naegi was strong in her own self, that she knew. What she couldn't even tell though is if Naegi would be capable of staying awake the entire time like the rest of them. The poor girl's been thruogh a lot in her time here, especially compared to most of the others, so it wouldn't be surprising if she ended up getting sleepier faster than the rest too.

On top of that, she was still having her flashbacks from her time at the academy before the Despair-Inducing incident occured, so there was no telling exaclty if she would or could end up passing out again as another memory struck her. Ikusaba's main concern was just the fact that despite Naegi's strength, she was the most likely to collapse first with all that's going on.

She had to think of something to do and fast, no matter what it took to keep Naegi alive. And that meant no matter WHAT it took.

Before she could even contemplate, however, someone else spoke.

"If it's all the same to you, I would like to talk to each of you in person first today." Oogami said. No one expected a request like that at this time.

"Speak to us?" Naegi questioned. "About what?" Oogami simply crossed her arms with a smile.

"I would just like to talk about my involvement with the puppet master to each of you before I do anything. Just in case." The way she said those words brought a feeling of dread t oAsahina.

"W-What do you mean by that, Sakura?" She asked. She felt that at the tip of her mind, she already knew the answer, but she wanted to be absolutely sure first.

"There is no need to worry, Asahina." oogami assured. "There is something I wish to try to resolve this, but I wish to speak to you all at least once one more time in case this backfires."

"W-Whoa, hold on a sec." Owada eyed her while grtting his teeth. "You're not doing anything crazy without me, you got that!" He wanted to be part of whatever action or scheme Oogami had in mind if it meant breaking the puppet master's neck, or at least his scheming.

"It's alright. I'm simply speaking on an if-basis. I don't know if it will go against the headmaster's rules or not, but there is something I have in mind to fix things." Asahina looked worriedly upon her friend. It iddn't matter how encouraging her words sounded, the way she spoke to them all was unsettling.

"Sakura..." She muttered. Again, Oogami just gave her a reassuring smile

"As I have told you, you needn't worry. I just wish to speak with all of you."

..

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A/N: Hoofta! Sorry for the delay folks (took forever to get rid of the migraine and al), but I think the fact i supplied a 12k word and 14k word chp just recently makes up for the loss of time from the last several chps X/. With that in mind, i will (hopefully) be back to a near-daily post once more. Just a bit of info, sadly, I won't be able to do much in terms of tomorrow since I'm goign to my cousins at noon tom (or have to be there at noon, so... you know), for a rather interesting project requiring my art skills ^^ (hopefully i'll be able to charge him too XP lol).

Anyway, just another reminder, there will be no bonus eps till we reach 80-90 revs. I apologize again, but after the last bonus ep, I NEEDA BREAK T_T...

S as always, leave a like, a fav, and reviw if you enjoyed ^^!


	26. A Cold Reality

A/N: I'm so glad someone on youtube is posting links to downloadable subbed videos of Danganronpa: Another Episode past chapter 2. Youtube's F***ING policy wont allow vids of it past chp 2 (which I seriously don't understand). But i need those vids ot keep myself motivated and continue these fanfics, so they're IMPORTANT X(!

I've also been discussing more with Animesworld recently about our future Danganronpa: Another Episode Gender Bender Edition fanfic, and we've come across a rather interesting amount of ideas here and there ^^ All fans should look forward to it, and lemme know if you'd prefer a start on it before or after I finish this fanfic.

If it's before, obviously it'll hold spoilers here and there to the ending of this fanfic, but it'll be great to get a start on a fanfic of a series i doubt many people even started planning for, so you know, horray for earliness and whatnot ^^

And with that, enjoy ^^!

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_"S-So you're a boy...?" Naegi mumbled. She had no idea what to say, or put the words into meaning without upsetting her friend who was crying on the floor in front of her._

_"Ech...p-please...please don't teeellll!" He cried as he sat on his knees. _

_Picture the average day in a school-life setting as such. You have your boys, you have your girls, and you have your classical shenanigans that play out when one interacts with one another. The shenanigans play out from simple, meaningful fun, to downright embarrassing and accidental scenarios that play out which usually results in uppercutting the boy out cold. That was the typical Japanese scenario. _

_This time however, it wasn't exactly the same case. _

_With an everyday world, a gust of wind would be the most usual cause for a girl's skirt to blow up and reveal a girl's panties. When Naegi and Fujisaki were taking a walk outside, the same gust of wind blew both their panties up. Luckily or otherwise, the two happened to be the only people in the area, so there was no worry or fear of someone else seeing underneath their skirts. That didn't prevent the two from accidentally glancing at each other when the gust occurred though. _

_What happened after was a realization Naegi never saw coming. With Fujisaki just slightly in front of her to her left, they were already looking at one another as they chatted. When the wind came and blew up the skirts of the two dames, Naegi noticed a certain sight that she wasn't expecting in a million years; a bulge. Just a simple bulge, but a bulge nonetheless. _

_It didn't even matter if the bulge was large or not. The fact there was even a bulge at all already confirmed any possible line of reasoning. Fujisaki's maddening blush helped support this confirmation as well. With her fists slightly covering her face and tears welling up in her, or in this case his, eyes, there wasn't even a single doubt about what any of this meant._

_Fujisaki was a boy, not a girl. _

_The silence surrounding the air weighed down the duo as the two simply stared at each other. What were either of them supposed to say at a time like this? It's not a conversation people can not just talk about, and it was a memory that could easily stick into one's mind for years to come. Whatever was currently on either's mind, it had to be said here and now. It was just really hard to figure out what exactly to say._

_Fujisaki was one of the first friends Naegi made, shortly after befriending Kirigiri. They both had a lot in common; they enjoyed their time messing with the computers, even though for Naegi it was more just playing games than programming, they were both girls at least until Naegi just found out, and they both suffered from a slight frailty. _

_While Naegi's perseverance was stronger, Fujisaki was one of the few people Naegi met that had a harder time dealing with others. Naegi struggled in her own way with other people, usually from the bullying she suffered, but with Fujisaki, it was just dealing with any sort of people. She would cry from a simple shout or yell, she would be upset if there was ever a miniscule hint of an argument forming, and so forth. _

_It was because of this that Naegi befriended her. She wanted to befriend someone who actually needed help from her, someone that would look up to her in any time of need. _

_Naegi wasn't doing it for her own personal gain to be fair. Initially, Naegi's first goal was to find a friend she could help. If she found one that actually needed her, perhaps she could go on her way to getting along with others, and finally put a stop to all this bullying. _

_But in reality, she really did want to help other people like Fujisaki. She cared about her friend, and wanted to help her through all of her, or now his, troubles. Even if the bullying never ended, or even got worse out of all of this, she would at least feel better knowing she was helping someone around this school that needed someone._

_Now just came to the matter of how to react to this situation._

_"F-Fu-Fujisaki, I-it's alright!" Naegi waved her hands calmly as she kneeled down to her friend. "I-It's alright, honestly! I promise I won't tell!" She pulled her friend into a warm hug, soothingly patting her back as she worked on calming her friend down._

_"I-I-I'm s-so-so-sorryyyyy ehhughhhhhh!" Fujisaki cried, rivers of tears pouring from her face. _

_"It's okay Fujisaki, it's okay." Naegi replied with a sincere smile. "Y-You don't have to explain anything, I'll keep it a secret." _

_"N-No, w-we-we caaughhh..." She hiccupped trying to speak. "W-We caaa-hhhaan't..." He cried. _

_"It is though! I-I mean look at me," Naegi gestured to herself, "you first thought I was a boy too, but I was okay with it."_

_"I-I'm sorryyyyyy-eehghhhh!" _

_"That's not what I meant!" Naegi shook her head to clear her thoughts. She wasn't yelling at Fujisaki, but she wanted him to see her point. She gently pulled on Fujisaki's hands, steadily helping him back to his feet. "I mean it's okay if you wear girls clothes or boys clothes. I won't think any different of you." _

_Fujisaki hiccupped as he tried to calm himself down. Naegi smiled as he opened his tear-filled eyes, still shaking as the tears slid from his eyes. He knew Naegi for who she was. She was a kind and caring person who often tried to help others whenever possible. Deep down a part of him knew she was just trying to help him now too. _

_But how was he supposed to respond? Not only did he not tell her his secret personally, but she had to find out on her own. It's the worst possible kind of way to discover another person's secret! It proved that he didn't trust her enough to tell her his secret himself. _

_And it wasn't like he didn't trust her, he was just too shy about what to say. How would you approach someone, casually dressed as the opposite gender, and then just blatantly call out about how you were a boy or a girl in the opposite clothing? _

_That's just it- you can't! _

_At least that's how Fujisaki felt. It was at a time like this though that made him realize Naegi wasn't like other people. She was a nice, caring, and sensitive person like himself, but with a lot more bravery. And she would continue to prove it until the eventual future events that would transpire._

_"I'm your friend Fujisaki." Naegi stated proudly with a smile. "And if you don't want to talk about it, we never have to. I promise." Fujisaki sniffled as he tried to clear his throat. She truly was a good friend. _

_"N-Nahh...N-Naeehh..." Fujisaki continued to choke on his own saliva as he tried to speak. Talking wouldn't prove possible for the time being. "Naeeghhhuhhhhh!" Fujisaki buried his face into Naegi's chest, crying into her arms. _

_"H-Hey! Hey!" Naegi gave him a sweet smile while patting his back. "It's okay, it's okay." Despite the serious sadness of this situation, Naegi couldn't help but feel a bit of sweat roll down from her head as Fujisaki continued to cry. She wasn't embarrassed or anything about Fujisaki crying on her, but there was a slight awkward feeling of having the snot from his nose smudging against her chest. _

_"F-Fujisaki? I don't mind if you cry, b-but-..." Fujisaki was lost in his sadness, unable to hear or comprehend a word she was saying at the moment. Naegi groaned mentally as she sighed, shifting her eyes away as she continued stroking Fujisaki's back._

_Something told her she would be stuck like this for awhile..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_*spppppppppppzzzzzzzzzzzzr*_

"Ahhhh! Monokuma!" Asahina shrieked as the bear finished using the school's sprinklers for the third time by now.

Things were really getting out of hand. Not several hours ago, everyone awoke to the fact that they were all nearly naked, save for their undergarments. Meeting up in the lunchroom, as the day's previous planning dictated, they all quickly discovered they weren't the only ones with missing clothes this morning. What's more, all of this was part of Monokuma's newest grand master motive.

Taking the clothes of the children were, as he stated, a simple side effect. It wasn't the real idea behind the motive. This time, the motive was a battle of sheer strength of will. Not only did Monokuma take everyone's clothing, he also took any other source of heat from blankets, turning off the school's watering supply, and locked up the public bathhouse. All of this was for the one single motive that was brought upon the students at this point in time.

They were to freeze to death.

It was only Four in the afternoon, yet the temperature was quickly getting to almost all the students by this point. While some may have been bothered less by it than others, they were all at least shivering at this point, no matter how hard they tried to hide it. For some of them, it was a matter of pride, while others simply wanted to put on a brave face to support the others. That didn't work so well when they, too, were shivering furiously. And the cold itself wasn't even the biggest issue of it.

The biggest issue came from the fact that the temperature had not only decreased, but it was _continuing_ to decrease at an alarming rate. What started at about sixty degrees this morning, it was now well below twenty-two degrees and continuing. By this point, just about everyone could easily see their own breath. The cold itself began giving the hallways and rooms a bluish hue to it, and some of them could have sworn they started seeing ice forming in some parts of the school.

While it might not have been possible by this point, all they really cared about was how freezing it was. To assist matters in this situation, and by that means Monokuma assisting himself to speed up the next murder, Monokuma decided to use the school's sprinkler system. There was no safe place from this dousing system either. In all the rooms, in all the halls, every place within this school was topped with a sprinkler on the ceiling. Several times he's done this within the last six hours, and several times the students were met with an icy rush of the cold AC blowing across them as the water subsided.

Fortunately, or not so fortunately, there was a way to solve this. That's the good news. The bad news? It required the next murder to occur. And there was actually worse news than that. The worse news was that only one student in particular was allowed to be poison; Sakura Oogami.

Having enough with the puppet master's evil doing, the Ultimate Fighter had decided she finally had enough of this bloodshed. Following immediately after the third trial, she cut off all ties to the puppet master and swore to assist the others to fight against him. Initially, Monokuma decided to expose her betrayal to the rest of the students to the school, but it knowingly backfired, since the students have banded together in spirit, tired of the mutual killings that were brought on hand. With this, there was no evidence of a possible murder occurring.

That's why Monokuma came up with his upmost recent scheme. Like he always says, at least announced he always says since this morning, "when you can't make 'em kill each other, freeze 'em until one of them do"- nobody really thought it was the most creative slogan or saying they ever heard, but they at least got the gist of what it meant. But regardless, there was no one willing to kill Sakura.

At this point, there were multiple reasons for that as well. It wasn't just an issue with actually murdering her. Everyone had the stride and heart to not go through another murder, but that was the least of the reasons. This was Sakura Oogami they were talking about. With muscles bigger than her own head, and the title of the Super High School Level Martial Artist, there was no one even foolish enough to even comprehend an assault.

The closest one even capable to such an idea was Owada, but with his man's honor constantly on the line, he would never go through with it. And while Ikusaba had more than enough military and combat training, there was no way she could pull through with it, especially without her weaponry at hand.

Thus left the students powerless and incapable of figuring out how to deal with this situation. They tried numerous methods to stop the ACs or prevent the cold air from rushing at them, but nothing worked. They tried duct taping any vents they could find, making scraps and articles of clothing from torn bed and pillow cases, but nothing worked. No one could even form another article of clothing that matched their size perfectly like Celes anyway. She was lucky her figure was lean enough to fit snuggly into a pillow case at all.

To make the matters even worse than what was possible, everyone was also starving at this point. Because Monokuma kept using the sprinkler system, they couldn't create a single solitary meal for breakfast or lunch without the black and white bear soaking it with water. Not only that, but he also had the decency to turn off the power supply to the ovens and microwave. Apparently, he wouldn't even allow a warm cooked meal to heat up the freezing students' hearts. This meant without a power supply for cooking, and all the food becoming soaking wet whenever someone tried to eat, the students were forced to starve until a plan came up.

But there was no plan at this point.

Everyone was out of options. There was no plan, no idea, no way for them to stop the AC from running. The only thing that minimized the impact from the sprinklers was Kirigiri's most recent idea. While it didn't prevent all the water around their feet, or the splash of waters from the side, they stayed in groups of two, carrying the actual mattresses from their own beds, keeping it constantly over their heads. To some, it might look like the most ridiculous of ideas, but to them, it was keeping them warm enough to prevent most of the water from even touching them.

It did little, however, to stop any of the breeze that continued blowing across their bodies. To make matters worse, this ended up affecting the female variety of students the most. As a note from science, when freezing cold water or air centers around a girl's chest, sometimes a certain "occurrence" will happen involving their breast. Neither Owada or Yamada could look at any of the girls at this point, as all their breast had gotten _stiff_, and they were really talking about one general bit of it in particular.

At least they didn't have to worry about Yamada ogling them anymore. With the knowing threat of the Ultimate Fighter and Ultimate Biker Gang Leader who would personally and painfully near-end his life, it was all the motivation he needed to keep his mind straight and his eyes away. His mind was a different story of course, but as long as he kept the comments and thoughts to himself, no one really cared.

And to be perfectly fair, he wasn't the only one suffering from certain sights either. Both, Ikusaba and Kirigiri, were experiencing a virtual hell of their own. Reason being? Because for once in their life, they're having the opportunity to see more of Naegi than they could ever dream of. While the reasoning in their dreams might be a little off compared to what it was now, they were experiencing a sense of satisfaction and joy in their minds than they could ever dream of.

Unfortunately, at the same time, it was their own hell. With Naegi's lack of clothing, of course they would see more of her. However, this mixed in with the certain freezing aspect going on, they saw some things of her this fanfiction can not write about without reaching an Adult +18 rating, so we'll leave it at how it was enough to practically make their noses bleed.

They had to muster all of their strength and effort just to prevent a nosebleed from occurring. Not just because of the sight of their nose bleeding, but with this cool frigid air, there was a good chance their nosebleeds would freeze after several mere seconds, and then how would they explain why their nose was bleeding while around Naegi? Even if they came up with some excuse, they could only use said excuse for so long before Naegi or someone else became suspicious.

Despite the circumstances and the lack of hope managing to flow through the school, Oogami herself proposed an idea. She had a single idea which involved her, but refused to give any details of her plan to anyone either. All she required from them were to meet with her person-to-person in the Rec Room this afternoon. No one knew what she would do, but they all assumed it would somehow involve her life. The biggest idea that came to all of them was perhaps she would find a way to assault the Headmaster himself, or destroy whatever AC was running in this place.

If it was the latter, no one could tell if it would be breaking the rules though, which is why they thought she wanted this personal meeting with everyone as a send-off. There were obvious arguments from the fellow students, Asahina most of all, but with a simple smile and a nod, Oogami assured her everyone would be alright.

None of them were even close to the truth, and that's how Oogami wanted it for now.

That's why, currently, Naegi, Ikusaba, Asahina, Celes, and Kirigiri found themselves waiting in line. Having already finished a heartfelt chat to Yamada, and now finishing up with Owada, it was only a matter of shivering time until Naegi would go next. They didn't have to wait around next to the door of course, but being huddled up like this were one of the few ways the students managed to keep warm.

"Tetetet..." Naegi's teeth chattered as she shook. She was holding herself tightly as if trying to keep any warmth from escaping invisible openings in her body. Kirigiri and Ikusaba tried to help this somewhat, staying as close to Naegi as they could to prevent as much of the breeze as possible on her. "W-Wh-Wh-What t-t-t-temperature d-do you think I-I-I-it isssss?" Naegi asked, looking to the two closest girls.

At this point in time, every breath the students took was notably visible. In the normal case, a breath would only be noticeable under cold weather if the humidity was at a good degree. With the excess humidity provided by the sprinklers, it was no wonder that their breath could be seen by this point.

"I-I h-h-honestly c-cant say." Ikusaba replied, shaking as she rubbed her arms.

"I-It would b-be easier to say if t-t-the st-stupid sprinklers weren't going off evvvv-ery f-few hours." Kirigiri added. The breeze they felt was one thing. Mixed in with the cold water splashing the students every now and then made it a terrifying temperature.

As the trio chatted, Celes looked to Asahina curiously. "So, As-Asahina," Celes struggled to maintain a constant composure, "h-how has the pool b-been?"

"N-No g-g-good." Asahina shook her head as she chattered. "The w-water is abs-solutely freezing!"

"W-W-Why would you g-go to a pool in this te-temperature?" Kirigiri asked raising a brow.

"T-To keep w-warm..." Asahina shriveled briefly as goose bumps ran across her body.

"Warm?"

"O-Oh, I know what s-she means!" Naegi spoke up. "I-It-It's an o-old sci-science f-f-fact I remember fr-from sixth gr-grade." The temperature was definitely taking it's toll on the fellow students. "W-Water maint-ta-ains a constant temperature b-below the suf-f-face... I-It can be f-frozen at the t-t-top b-but below the su-surface, I-it's usually ar-round 39 degrees c-constant." She explained with a smile. It was fun being the one able to explain things for once than the other way around. "I-I heard so-some swimmers do a w-wi-winter swim t-thing where they s-swim in water f-for a few se-seconds, and then r-run out with th-their shorts only."

"I actually t-tried that once." Asahina commented with a smile.

"How w-was I-I-it?"

"F-Freezing...Ooogghhh..." Just remembering the event brought shivers up her spine. "I-I think I p-prefer my sw-swimming ev-vents to stay in the w-water than out of I-it."

"So w-why didn't you stay in the p-pool then, A-Asahina?" Kirigiri asked. "I-If it's co-constantly T-Thirty-nine in the p-pool, it s-sounds warmer than h-he-here."

Asahina shook her head sadly. "I-It wouldn't work. A-Anytime a si-single part of me was a-above w-water, I-I-it'd be f-freezing." She replied. "P-Plus, w-with the t-temperature, a-and how m-mu-much I'm u-used to the p-pool, I almost n-nodded off."

"I'm surprised you can even get sleepy while swimming." Celes said with the tap of her chin. "I'd think you'd be more awake during that time."

"Eh heh, well I've gotten so used to swimming that I just kind of go with the flow." Asahina replied scratching her head. "It's even easier when your floating on your back."

*creeeea-*

The conversation was brought to and end as the door opened once again. Turning back down the hallway, they watched as Owada creaked his neck as he walked out the doorway. With a crick and a rub, he shifted his gaze towards the girls.

"You're up Naegi." He stated. Naegi blinked a little curiously.

"What did she want to talk about?" She wondered.

"It's alright, she just wants to chat." He answered with a nod. Looking back at the others, they returned the same smile Naegi gave to them.

"Guess I'm up then." Naegi said as she walked off.

"Oh, Naegi wait!" Asahina pleaded. Naegi quickly stopped several feet ahead as she looked back. "C-Can you...C-Can you as-ask her w-what she's g-going to d-d-do?" She shivered.

Shivering all the same, Naegi gave her a small smile as she nodded back, continuing on to the Rec Room and passing Owada. Both Ikusaba and Kirigiri smiled at her until she left, then gave their usual cold glare back to one another. Asahina looked back and forth between the two, a little confused at the sudden change in personalities.

"Is there something going on between you two-

"NO!" The two yelped in Unison, startling both Asahina and Celes as they went back to their glare.

At this point in time, it was probably better not to ask questions...

...

...

...

"Thanks for coming, Naegi." Oogami greeted with a smile with her arms crossed. If it was her way of keeping warm, it was definitely working for her, because Naegi couldn't see a single ounce of her shivering. Her voice wasn't even cracking up in the least. She could still see the cold air shrouding her breath, but that was about it.

Like many other rooms of the school at this time, the Rec Room was covered in a bluish hue. In fairness, it was actually more supported by the fact this was one of the few only rooms covered with a blue wallpaper anyway. Also like many of the rooms, this room was beyond freezing. The humidity mixed in with the cold air reminded Naegi how the temperature was continuing to drop by the second. And each cold breeze was like a blizzard to her face.

While everything in the room might have been soaked, there was at least a single stool on the opposite side of the table. It was a common looking one with a wooden seat and a back to it, but more importantly, it wasn't soaking wet like the leather chairs or couch in the Rec Room were. This way, Naegi could at least have somewhere decent to sit without worry of dozing off accidentally.

Naegi had to give Oogami credit- despite the conditions, she was definitely showing her strength by not shivering, looking as if she didn't mind the cold whatsoever. Naegi's body partly felt numb from the bitter cold, so it was amazing how Oogami managed to maintain such a composure without so much as a shake.

"N-No p-pr-problem, O-Og-gami..." Naegi repled with a chattered smiled. Oogami smiled a little at to her. She knew Naegi was trying to put on a strong front just like she was. To her, it didn't matter if one was physically strong or physically weak. All she cared about was inner strength, like the one Naegi was showing right now.

"Here, have some of this." Oogami handed out a piece of candy. Still shaking, Naegi slowly took it from her, eyeing it curiously. "The taste should help take your mind off the cold." She stated.

Naegi nodded with a smile as she unwrapped the small round ball of candy. Tossing it in her mouth, she had to admit it had a deeply sweetened taste to it. Perhaps a little too sweet, but just enough to taste great without bothering Naegi at all. And more importantly, it definitely helped take her mind off things, the cold being the most important of it. As long as they didn't have the cold to worry about, it helped lower the chance of someone pulling through the motive.

"Mmh," Naegi flavored the candy with glee, "it tastes great."

"I'm glad. I thought you'd might like it."

"..."

"..."

There was a silence between the two. Naegi had little to no trouble at all about finding out how Oogami was working for the puppet master. She proved herself time and again that she was sided with the characters, so Naegi had no reason or intention of doubting her even now. Yet the unsettling feeling within Naegi's mind, not including the cold, distracted her. Something felt a little off about all of this.

Oogami was a warrior, just like Ikusaba. Naegi was more than assured that Oogami knew the meaning of self-sacrifice, but had no idea how far she might be willing to go, what lengths she might reach to achieve whatever goal she had intended.

Naegi had had enough with losing friends around here. She lost Maizono, Kuwata, Fujisaki, Togami, Ishimaru, Hagakure, and Fukawa. Not one of those friends did she look away from- they were all dear friends she held closely in her heart. She would make sure to keep the memory and pain of losing them at all times as she would use it to strengthen her resolve to get out of here, and with most of her friends as possible.

She was determined to bring her remaining friends out of this alive.

"O-Oogami, w-what are you-"

"Are you and Asahina concerned for what I intend?" Oogami interrupted, already knowing what Naegi was about to say. Naegi frowned slightly but nodded in response. It felt better to let Oogami speak, seeing how she appeared to have a grasp on what Naegi wanted to say. "You needn't worry about me, Naegi." Oogami assured with a smile. "My only wish is to attempt something, nothing more. I just don't know if it goes against the headmaster's rules or not."

That was a lie, but Naegi couldn't have known that.

If Oogami was telling the truth like she said, then Naegi understood why she wouldn't explain it to the rest of them. The headmaster was watching at all times, even now. If she went on to explain her plans to the rest of the students, then the headmaster could easily update the rules again to prevent her from doing so. As long as she kept a degree of the unknown to the rest of the school, the Headmaster couldn't anticipate anything she was planning and therefore plan against it.

Naegi was a little saddened at the fact that Oogami couldn't let them in on it, but if it would actually help her out more to remain oblivious to the plan, then perhaps it was for the better. As ironic as it may seem, thus far, the act of knowing and doing nothing to assist was actually proving more helpful than if anyone was willing to assist Oogami. That was a statement Naegi would have to live with.

"D-Do you pr-promise not t-to do anyth-thing too d-d-dangerous?" Naegi asked with worry. She had no idea why, but Oogami continued to just smile at the shivering girl.

"I promise you, and please let Asahina know this, that I simply intend to help the students without risking my life. None of you have to worry about this." Oogami calmly said. For some reason, Naegi didn't feel anymore at ease. There was just something about the air, metaphorically speaking, in here that made things unsettling. She couldn't pry further of course, knowing Oogami probably wouldn't tell her the truth even if she requested it. Accepting her words, for now, mentally, Naegi sighed as she moved on.

"S-So, w-wh-what did you want to talk about?" She asked curiously. For once since the conversation began, Oogami frowned slightly. It wasn't a sad-like frown, but a frown of regret.

"Naegi..." Oogami lowered her head as she spoke softly. "I wish to extend my apologies again for what happened that night in the weight room."

"That-?" Naegi was confused for but a moment before understanding what she meant. She frowned as she lowered her own head at this.

That night completely ruined her on the inside, nearly breaking her sanity and hope for this school since coming here. On that night, Naegi's only desire was to gain strength and get stronger, so she asked Oogami to help train her in the weight room. After working out for several hours, the two decided to call it quits for the day as the night-time announcement approached. However, instead of staying behind to help like Oogami offered, Naegi calmly declined and decided to clean up the weight room herself, promising she would be alright.

Oogami took responsibility from that night. She still hated herself for making a simple mistake as leaving Naegi to herself all alone at night in this murderous school. On that same night, in the Weight Room right next to them, Owada nearly murdered Fujisaki. If not for the sudden noise of Naegi, who accidentally dropped a weight due to her sore shoulder she pulled, Owada would have gone through with the murder, never snapping out of the blind rage that filled him that night.

Things should have been simple afterwards, right?

Sadly, that was not the case. Naegi's interference with one murder only lead up to another murder only a short while after. Hearing a bloodcurdling scream just outside the doorstep, Naegi came across the second murder scene, which consisted of Togami, impaled in the chest with a pair of scissors. Not only this, but Naegi was knocked out and nearly killed by the same killer that night, who ended up being Fujisaki himself.

It was a dramatic moment for Naegi during the trial. Even after all the evidence that had been presented came about, she could barely pull through with voting for her dearest friend. Kirigiri even had to trick Naegi at one point during the trial, manipulating her emotions just to get Naegi to reveal some info that was crucial for the trial. The girl still hated herself to this day for tricking Naegi as she did, but it was necessary to keep everyone else alive, especially Naegi.

And all of this came about because Oogami never stayed behind that night. While the results of Owada's attempted murder may have differentiated had Oogami stayed behind, there was no changing the results. Fujisaki ended up turning into a killer, and Naegi lost one of her closest friends that day.

"I wish to extend my sincere apologies, Naegi." Oogami continued. "If...If I had just stayed behind-"

"N-No!" Naegi shook her head firmly. Oogami raised her head at this. "I-It doesn't m-matter anymore." There was a small ounce of trembling in Naegi's voice. It wasn't just from the cold, but a small degree of sadness. "I-If I have to b-blame you for w-what happened to F-Fujisaki," she paused as she shook herself, trying to warm up, "t-then I'd have to b-blame myself t-too!"

Oogami didn't know what to say to this. "Naegi... I-"

"I-I mean it!" Naegi interrupted again. If the aching feeling in her heart proved true later on, she refused to allow a good friend like Oogami leave them with a guilty consciousness or regret. "W-What happened back then h-happened be-because I allowed it t-too. I off-ffered to stay behind on m-my own, rememb-ber?" Naegi reminded. "I-I have n-no right to bl-blame you, n-nor should y-you blame yourself f-for what hap-happened, ok?"

"Naegi..." Oogami smiled proudly. Naegi was truly strong in her own heart. "I admire your strength, Naegi. I will stand by my apologies though, no matter what happens. But I appreciate your acceptance regardless." Naegi's teeth chattered as she tried to return the smile.

"N-N-No pr-problem." Oogami examined Naegi carefully. Her whole body was continuing to shake more and more as the conversation went on. The cold must have worsened during the course of their talk, the temperature going down somewhere near 20 degrees by this point.

"If you wish, you may go now. I simply wanted to extend my apologies once more." Oogami informed. Naegi didn't want the conversation to end, wanting to know more about what Oogami was planning, but the cold was becoming unbearable. Being soaking wet, stripped to the undergarments, and the AC continuing to decrease, how was anyone supposed to handle this.

"A-are you su-sure?" Naegi asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I wished to give you my apologies before I went through with my plan, that's all." She stated. Unable to think of how else to continue the conversation, due to the cold distracting her at a constant rate, Naegi gave a nod as she stood up. She didn't make it several feet though before Oogami spoke up again. "Wait!" She requested. Naegi instantly turned back, noticing the urgency in her voice.

"W-What's wrong?"

"..." Oogami remained silent for a moment. Something was definitely on her mind. "How...How have things been with your new friend Ikusaba around?"

Naegi's heart jumped a bit at this. Something was definitely wrong here. She recalled how Kirigiri once extended the same kind of worry to Naegi about Ikusaba's mysterious circumstances. Now for both Kirigiri and Oogami to be bringing this up, something was truly wrong about all this.

"W-Wh-What do you mean?"

"...I just wish to know if she's been a good friend to you before you go, that's all." Oogami explained with a smile. Naegi sighed mentally. For a second there, she thought Oogami was about to say something completely different.

"O-Oh, t-that. Heh heh," Naegi chuckled with a bright smile, "she's a great f-friend to me! S-She's h-helped me so much si-since I m-met her. S-She's as kind as Fu-Fujisaki." Oogami blinked at this for some reason. "She has a f-few weird h-habits here and t-there, but she's a great friend."

"Haha, I see." Oogami nodded for the last time. "That's good to hear. I just was just curious. Thank you." Naegi smiled again before making her way out. "And bring in Ikusaba next, please. She requested. Oogami's expression became more serious looking once Naegi was out of sight.

She was about to have a personal chat with Naegi's "great friend"...

...

...

...

"Y-You're up Ikusab-ba." Naegi announced as she came out.

Like they always do, both girls greeted Naegi with a bright smile, happy to see her again.

"Thanks, I-

*_sppppppppppppppzzzzzzzzzzt*_

"Ahhh!" Naegi shrieked. Unlike the other girls, she was nowhere near covered like the other girls with the bed over their heads. They may have gotten somewhat sprayed from the sides and corners of their cover, but they were not completely drenched like Naegi was at the moment.

The single millisecond that past as the sprinklers turned off, Naegi found herself hit with a truck-full of cold. It was like a blizzard hitting her from all angles as the freezing temperature painfully surrounded her. At an almost-simultaneous speed, every inch of her body began to come down with a numbing cold, her nervous becoming less and less noticeable as a paralyzing chill ran up her whole body.

"Naegi!" Ikusaba, Kirigiri, and Asahina yelled worriedly in unison. Celes wasn't being selfless, but she was preoccupied with her own chill she felt from the water reaching her back, chattering her teeth as she struggled to keep the bed up with the rest.

Ikusaba, Kirigiri, and Asahina exchanged glances with one another, nodding in understanding as some plan formed in their mind. With Asahina moving up the bed and adjusting her grip, she helped keep the bed atop as Kirigiri and Ikusaba ran from the cover, rushing over to Naegi quickly.

"T-Th-Th-That w-w-was co-o-o-old!" Naegi's chattering teeth became more intense as the rushing air blew against her.

Kirigiri hastily pulled Naegi over into a hug, not caring that it was getting her own body wet from Naegi's dousing, trying to warm her dear friend up. Both girls took the opportunity to wipe Naegi with their hands, doing their best to wipe the water away by any means necessary. It was a little more efficient on Kirigiri's end since she still had her gloves on, helping soak up the water a little more. The gloves were one of the only few things Monokuma didn't take for some reason.

Both girls didn't have a single ounce of sympathy in themselves after using it all up on Naegi. They couldn't believe how freezing and cold her body already was. It had already been exposed to this cold air for less than a minute and already they were far warmer than she was right now.

"Jesus Christ, you're freezing!" Ikusaba yelled. She glared angrily at the ceiling, squeezing her fist. "What was that fucking bear thinking?!"

_**"Ooooooops, my finger slipped."**_ He taunted over the intercom.

Ikusaba was filled with an unending rage. The timing of that dousing JUST as Naegi came out of the room was too perfect. There was no almost about it- she knew it was one-hundred percent intentional. Why her sister was doing such a thing though remained the question. Why was she purposely trying to pick on Naegi all of a sudden? It wasn't even in the same interval of hourly douses that Monokuma did up to this point.

By her count thus far, Monokuma had doused the students once every two-to-three hours, and it had only been an hour since the last one too. It was completely intentional, and Ikusaba knew that. The only reason she couldn't do anything else at the time was because of her current worry for Naegi. Her skin was already becoming a slightly bluish color, freezing up more and more with each second that past.

"M-M-My l-l-legs are b-becoming n-nu-numb..." Naegi commented quietly as she wobbled. The freeze was sucking out the energy left within the poor girl. Kirigiri raised her arm against Naegi's head, examining just how cold the girl was.

"S-She's seriously f-freezing." Kirigiri said worriedly.

The trio were too preoccupied to notice, or care at that time, as Asahina and Celes carried over the bed. They positioned themselves carefully on both ends to ensure Naegi remained covered directly in the middle where it would be most dry, should another "accidental dousing" occur.

"A-Are you o-okay?" Asahina asked worriedly. She already knew the answer, but it was just a manner of being polite and caring.

"A-As-Aside f-f-from the b-bl-bliz-zard? P-Peachy..." Naegi joked with a weak smile. She was trying to keep her spirits up to keep the others from worrying.

It wouldn't work even if she did have a more appealing smile. They were worried.

"The h-heck you are!" Kirigiri retorted. She looked back to the others as she pulled Naegi closer, using whatever heat her body had to provide warmth. "I-I'm g-go-gonna take her back t-to my room. I-I'll find something to w-warm her up."

The other girls nodded, including Ikusaba. When it came to Naegi's well-being, she wouldn't argue with anything Kirigiri said. She especially couldn't now since it was her turn to see Oogami.

Do not be mistaken; she had absolutely **zero** care for a meeting with anyone while Naegi's life was on the line. But she had no choice in this case. Oogami knew more about Ikusaba than even Kirigiri herself did, which was saying a lot by this point. If she refused to see Naegi for any reason, at least to her concern, Oogami might take it upon herself to expose her secret to whoever came next. There was no guarantee that was the case, but Ikusaba couldn't take a chance.

With a hearty smile, she lowered herself a little to Naegi's height as she patted her head.

"You g-get warmed up r-right away, ok?" She said softly. "T-That's an o-order." Naegi was too weak to give a full response, having lost more than half the feeling in her body, but gave a confirming nod. Smiling at this, Ikusaba glanced up to Kirigiri, but said nothing as both girls nodded to one another.

It was their agreement that they were holding true to. At any time Naegi's life was on the line, they would put aside their quarrels until Naegi was safe and sound once more. It was still hard for Ikusaba to watch as Kirigiri walked away with _her_ Naegi, but she trusted Kirigiri with this task. She knew she could at least trust Kirigiri with anything involving Naegi's life, seeing how the violet girl had the same care for Naegi as she did.

She just hoped she didn't regret it.

...

...

...

"J-Just sit h-here, and d-don't lay down!" Kirigiri said firmly as she helped Naegi to her bed.

The room was just as freezing as the rest of the school, perhaps more so given how the humidity was more closed-in since the room was smaller. Just like everywhere else though at the time, it still had a bluish hue to everything. A bluish hued wall, bluish hued floor, even a bluish hued bed. It was even easier for the humidity to expand within here as many things within each of the students' rooms had a larger amount of stuff that could absorb water easier. The pool rooms were less humid than this!

Naegi gave a nod as she continued rubbing her arms, watching as Kirigiri rushed over to the dresser.

"T-There has to be s-something that stupid b-bear left!" Kirigiri yelled to herself.

That didn't prove to be the case. Aside from the undergarments like the bear promised, there wasn't a single ounce of clothing left within her drawers. She forcefully pulled back each door with all her might, trying to find a single piece of clothing that could be used to warm up Naegi. A sock at this point would even do since she could help dry off Naegi easier if she had any. It actually felt a little strange to her that Monokuma didn't at least leave them a single pair of socks. Chances were it was to prevent any drying for this exact reason.

Meanwhile Naegi took the time to look around the room. She needed something to take her mind off the cold and to help keep her body from going numb. Whether it was to look for something that could help warm her up, or look for something that could provide a useful distraction to herself, it was all for the sake of forgetting the cold. It probably would've helped more if

Kirigiri's room wasn't so much like Naegi's. It didn't really have much of anything save for a few dressers, a table, and so forth.

Still, Naegi wasn't too demanding. She just needed a single thing to focus her mind on and think about. Perhaps she could spend her time examining the room and see if she could find any icicles or ice forming among the floor and walls. In a normal circumstance, such a thought would seem a ridiculous, but these weren't normal circumstances. Since meeting a black and white bear who proclaimed himself as the headmaster, not once has a moment in this school been a normal circumstance, much less day.

It was these thoughts that kept coming back to the students. And it was these thoughts that currently distracted the two from anything else.

With the duo preoccupied, the camera's lens circled as it zoomed in closely. As one of the only things surprisingly not affected by the sprinklers, the watchful gaze behind the cameras couldn't help but grin. Their work kept ending up too easy for them! And it filled them with more and more pleasure each time! Like the pleasure they currently felt as they pressed a single button on their controls.

Right at that moment, a small, barely four-inch square, opening appeared below the camera in the wall. It was too silent for either of the girls to hear, especially since they were too lost in their own thoughts with trying to keep warm. Neither of them noticed as a small straw-like tube peaked in from the dark insides of the wall, carefully steadying it's aim at the target. With the controller at a grin, another button was pressed which finalized their plans. The small straw-like tube hummed inaudibly as a sudden needle shot out, piercing it's target right at the back of the neck.

*_pewf*_

"OW!" Naegi yelped in pain. It was only for a few seconds, but it was painful at the very moment of impact at the time. Kirigiri looked back at the shout worriedly.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Naegi, still shaking, slowly reached around her back as she plucked the strange feeling in her neck. Both girls grew surprised at the sight of the strange, paper-thin needle that Naegi pulled out.

"Y-Yeah," Naegi replied, "I-I was j-just poked with...p-poked with..." It came too fast for her to fight against it.

All at once, all sense of feeling and consciousness began to fade from Naegi's body as she trembled. It was like before in the past few days when Naegi had these strange "dreams" Ikusaba said she had, but without the migraine that came before it. Sure, her neck hurt at that moment so it could have been something similar, but it was too psychical on her body and too strange to suddenly appear like this.

The only thing Naegi did know for a pure moment was the worrying expression of shock on Kirigiri's face as her vision faded. The last thing she saw was Kirigiri running over to her before screaming her name.

"Naegi!" She shouted worriedly. Whether it was too late or ineffective, it didn't matter anymore.

Naegi had entered a deep sleep, and would remain like that until that until the next day.

...If she woke up...

...

...

...

A/N: Another hoofta and a bootleg to boot!...or something along the lines. Anyway, another chp, and another piece of the plot covered. I apologize if these chps have an "off" feeling to them in terms of mood or feel, but I'm mostly trying to get back into my daily posting habit at all, so please be patient X/ In the meantime, more of the plot is covered, and strange occurrences are coming about between the Headmaster's recent behavior and their sudden events.

Stay tuned with a like, review, and a fav, as we steadily approach our next murder verily soon!


	27. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

A/N: Ok, apologies in advance for the delay here- recently, my worst fears have been realized. Valwin, my pope and savior who's been posting subbed videos of Danganronpa: Another Episode, just going by what I could tell, has stopped posting subbed videos due to some a-hole complaining and threatening to et him into trouble about how he's been posting subbed videos.

For some reason, the guy who's subs he's using thinks it matters that he's making a video using translated sub Valwin uses and posts them into a video. The fact that Valwin is the current pope of Danganronpa by actually POSTING VIDEOS of translated subs, and not retardedly just posting scripts in some tumblr and calling it his work, is complete and utter BS.

Not to mention, WTF DOES IT MATTER?! Even if he wasn't using his subs, here's a news flash- chances are, 90% of the people will translate the exact same thing. So honestly, WTF?! Let the guy use your freaking subs dude, it's not like it would be any different if he did em himself X/ Valwin even got the okay before to use it from this guy, so he shouldn't be harassing Valwin X/

So because of this, I lost my inspiration as of late from irritation due to Valwin's recent quitting, and I've failed to find anyone so far who actually subs the game PAST CHP FREAKING 2 X(!

However, I have not quit my fanfic-ing. The thing is, I'm sick of youtube's F***ING POLICY KEEPING PEOPLE FROM POSTING X(! (that's how many angry brows I grow from the anger : /) As such, I am questioning as of late if I should skip on through, or at least post via hiatus, my current DGR:GBE for awhile, and start working on the immediate-planned sequel for it, Danganronpa: Another Episode GBE. As i've said a hundred times, no one else's gender changes in it, it just takes place in the same universe as my Female Naegi.

I want to post it, because I want to "fight the system", so to speak, and provide people with an imaginative and somewhat legit subbed version of the game. To make it better for those who prefer less of the spoilerish-quality fanfics, this'll roughly cover 40% of things in the game in terms of plot. Everything else will be added in via my own Imagination ^^!

Audience: Boooooooo

A/N: WILL YOU GET OUT OF HERE ALREADY! HUUUUFF, anyway, as such, I would like for you guys to vote for me. I will also grant that there's no guarantee of an everyday post. Reason being? 1- I'm actually working WITH someone, Animesworld, who's had the heart and decency to send me subbed outlines of each of the chapters :D A big THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK YOU to Animesworld first for that, and because of it, he'll be working with me to help us bring you a fanfic of DGR:AE, Together :D!

Audience: Yaaaaaa!

He's my hero!

I'm naming my firstborn child after him!

Make love to me-!

A/N: I'M GETTING A SHOTGUN X(!

Seriously though, thanks in advance to him for helping on this :P.

And that's the 2nd thing I wanted to mention- It wouldn't mean I wouldn't post frequently either guys- I mean pete sake, even 8K+ every 2 days as of late is still a LOT for an average poster X/ and we already have a good chunk of the first 3 sections of the game (Prologue till the end of chp 2) covered, so you'll still be getting the opening bits relatively sooner :P!

I will also admit, it does cover a bit of spoilers from the expected ending of my current fanfic, though the survivors are kind of obvious at this point, so no worries entirely. And like I said, it will spoil parts of the game for anyone looking forward to it (But i'll be more-or-less surprised if it ever does get released in America for certain reasons…), but not much since it'll be our (Mine and Animesworld) take on it.

Of course, I'll need Animesworld to agree with this- he's helping me on it, but would need to make sure if we start it early or not : /

Let me know in the reviews guys about your thoughts on this. If we're against it *cough* traitors *cough*, then we'll go back to this fanfic until the very end XP Only condition on this- I won't be doing bonus eps till it's over then, because I want to bring myself to actually FINISH a fanfic for a change here X/

For those who wish to see this Fanfic, or at least see the start of it (you get a cookie!), then vote for it ^^ Like I said, one way or another, it won't mean I'll completely end DGR:GBE, just put it on hold. But with the mojo I currently have for this fanfic, we can expect fasts posts (for the beginning), and a FREAKING TRANSLATION of the game which I'm sure many people have been looking for ^^!

So to sum it up: If you guys want me to post a translation-fanfic of the game with my own take, give a thumbs up ^^

If you want me to continue finishing this fanfic, then just let me know (traitors)(Jk XP).

If you want a demon to possess your daughter and/or sister, please send a soul to the administrator of .com-….if that actually ends up being a website, then dear god forget what i said XO!

Either way, please enjoy the fanfic as always ^^

And before I forget (well I did so i just came back to add this bit XP), please support Valwin on youtube who's making the DGR:AE series in subs. I need to see translations of this game to have the will to move on X! o support him to support me to support Danganronpa to support the game to support the fanfic to support the migraine growing in my head now from having too big of a "Support list"…..ow…..


	28. Ikusaba's Conflict and Chilling Results

A/N: Well I have to admit, I never thought I'd get so flattered over a single review (especially a nice-sized one written from someone who hardly posts on here XP), but I'll have to remain adamant then ^^ Thanks to Leez for showing how much you HIGHLY regard this fanfic, definite surprise to me form someone who don't reply much, but I suppose it's for the best ^^ With his/her (I can never get the gender right when I assume for myself) words, I'm continuing this fanfic I guess ^^

Probably for the best either way ^^ Even if I did go along with the other one at this point, there's still some things I'd need to check over plot wise with Animesworld, so it would be awhile still before I even get the chance to post the prologue chapter either way. So, I guess I'll be sticking to this for the time being ^^

Still want people to help support Valwin though- I need to find someone on freaking youtube who will SUB THE DAMN GAME STUFF X(! I'm sorry, but you tubes pissing me off, not with the fact it doesn't allow subs past chp 1, but at how F***ING teasing it feels when they allow the prologue, and the first chp, but nothing else AFTER X(!

Guuuuuhh!… Enjoy ^^

*Ok additional note, don't ask why I reposted the 2nd bonus episode again, long story short, tablets suck as they accidentlly cause you to freaking delete crap T_T lets be thankful it wasn't the entire fanfic itself...ENJOY ^^!

…

…

…

_*whack!*_

_"Ahh!" Naegi yelped as she jumped._

_"Naegi Makoto!" The teacher spoke firmly after slapping his ruler on the desk. Naegi rubbed her eyes sleepily._

_"H-Huh?" She mumbled tiredly. _

_"If you feel it necessary to sleep through my class so much, would you like for me to accommodate a pillow for you?" He joked with an irritating tone in his voice._

_"Heheheh…" There was a bunch of mumbled laughter from the surrounding classmates as they all failed to keep it to themselves. How could they? _

_Once again, Naegi Makoto herself, fell asleep in class today. This would probably be about the fourth time within the last week she fell asleep in any class at all. It always starts out as a simple yawn. This would usually lead to her simply leaning on one arm with her elbow on the table, followed by the classical resting of the eyes. Despite her best efforts to maintain consciousness while under these effects, she ended up dozing off off from time to time, and much more frequently as of late. _

_Don't mistake her for a bad student- she wasn't doing this on purpose or anything. Unlike the other brazen students who tended to sleep through class, like Owada, she wasn't doing it intentionally. She was doing it without any ounce of her control, but even the teachers didn't seem to understand that, or they just didn't care. _

_Only recently, Naegi had learned from the Principal, Kirigiri's father, of an upcoming Yearly Exam approaching in the next month. Unlike all the tests and quizzes she's down up to this point, this one would cover just about everything she's learned up till now. Not only that, but it also covered a large portion of her final grade, and that meant for all subjects, not just one. _

_The problem that came out from this as Naegi's grades. She wasn't a bad student or anything, and she wasn't necessarily failing anything. She was about a +C average student. While it might not seem like the greatest average grade to receive, having over eleven different classes, several projects and a dozen quizzes, and trying to balance out the time it takes to study for each class's tests and get the projects done, all within the span of a week each time, it would take it's toll on anyone, especially within a prestiges school full of literal-Talented students. _

_And this was all before her current problems as of late. Now, with this on top of everything else that came about, she had to worry about this new exam. It didn't matter about how much of an effort she was putting through, she had to both, improve her current grades, AND get at least a +B on her future Exam. If she failed her Exam, or got a score lower than what she had now at least, she would fail the school year. _

_To make matters even worse, with Hope's Peak Academy being as prestiges as it was, if she failed for the year, she would be kicked out of the academy for good. This was possibly a fate worse than death to be perfectly honest. It wouldn't just be an issue of failing the school if this occurred. Her failure would be detailed on her permanent record, and it would make impossible later on in life for her to get any well-paid job. She would be lucky enough alone if she managed to get a high-paying minimum-wage job. _

_So, despite the difficulty as of late and the extreme amount of focus she's been putting off, she's been working day in and day out for the past several weeks. From studying quizzes and tests for each week, working on and improving her quality of projects in life, and above all, studying for the Exam that could make or break her life, she was all but exhausted. _

_She got maybe about four hours of sleep- A WEEK. Her drowsiness was starting to take a toll on her as she became more prone to accidents these days like bumping into people or tripping over her own feet. The lack of sleep was making it harder and harder to pay attention without dozing off every few hours as well. She was a diligent and hard-working student, so she deserved the few minutes she dozed off every now and then if anything._

_The teachers were less than helpful, however, or much less caring. _

_All they cared about was the fact that a student was sleeping in their class. Granted, they most likely dealt with other students from time to time that fell asleep in their class, and with everyone in Hope's Peak Academy being a student, they pretty much expected just about everyone to be a hard-working student with plenty of stuff. This is why they showed little to no care about just one student who was suffering a lack of sleep due to being overworked. _

_At least in Naegi's defense, others like her who dozed off in class did it for the sake of laziness or being uninterested in whatever was being discussed. And at the same time, Naegi was also constantly working on improving her other grades at the time, which was a factor not many students had to worry about while studying for their exams as well. So maybe Naegi deserved a little extra credit compared to the other students. _

_"Honestly, Naegi, this is about the third time in the last two days." The teacher groaned pinching between the eyes. _

_"I-I'm sorry…" Naegi apologized, lowering her head with a frown. _

_"Huff, if you truly need some time to rest then at least do it out in the halls." He ordered , pointing to the door firmly. _

_"B-But-!_

_"Now." He yelled louder._

_Naegi moaned to herself as she gathered her books and school stuff before heading for the door. There was a trail of giggling laughter following her as she left from the seated students. It was a bad time to remember that this was one of the few classes she didn't have any of her friends in, not that it would matter since it probably wouldn't die down the laughter. _

_Sadly the teacher was actually more irritating than helpful, especially in his most recent remark he made. _

_"And for pete sake, pull your skirt up!" He yelled. _

_"Huh?" Naegi turned back in confusion at this. _

_"It's sagging down! Least have the decency to dress yourself in the morning!" He shouted as he pointed to her waist._

_Looking down, Naegi dropped her school supplies as her jaw dropped in a mix of shock and utter embarrassment. Se couldn't believe, out of all the unlucky things in live, once again reminding her of her ironic talent, that of all the things to happen to her, her skirt dilemma would come back to haunt her. _

_If there was one thing Naegi hated, it was dressing like a girl, or at least anything involving a skirt. Like her life had been up to this point, whenever it came to Naegi's life, her and skirts were caught in a never-ending war. Whether from a gust of wind like she had several days ago (luckily it was only in front of her friend, who she later discovered was a boy), or caught on a simple twig, she always had the tendency of her skirt somehow revealing her panties. _

_Like now for instance. Unlike the past times, this time was partly on her…maybe. For some reason, her skirt appeared to be lowering in the back of her waist by a few inches. While it wasn't lowered completely, it was down enough to at least show the tip of her butt cheek along with her pink with red-polkadotted panties. _

_It wasn't enough for her tears to be welling up from the laughter that roared from the class, but now for the teacher to even have the time and shout it out for the rest of the class to hear. She couldn't take the stress from this anymore, yet she refrained from making too much of a scene. With the tears still freshly flowing down her eyes, she re-gatered her supplies before bolting out the doorway with the laughter of the classroom following out with her. _

_She completely missed the student who tried greeting her because of this too._

_"Hi Naegi!" Ikusaba greeted with a wave as she walked down the halls._

_Almost instantly, she could see the tears flowing from her face as she passed her without a word. Blinking momentarily from confusion, she looked back toward incoming screams of laughter that she heard. The doorway was still swiveling back and forth for a few moments from how hard Naegi pushed it open, but it was just enough for her to catch a glimpse of the teacher in the room. She gritted her teeth as she lowered her brow to him just as the door closed._

_She always hated that teacher. She's heard stories of numerous students he would always humiliate on purpose just for the sake of teaching them a lesson, or trying to get them to focus. While it wasn't intentionally to be mean, it really was to teach a lesson, she's heard numerous cases of girls running out of the room from embarrassment for one reason or another. _

_Squeezing her fist, she muttered under her breath as she looked towards the direction that Naegi ran. _

_"He'll be the first to die."_

…

…

_Poor girl._

_Several minutes later, after nearly running to the entire other side of the school near her bedroom, she was found leaning against lockers while sitting on the floor, wiping the tears from her eyes as she sniffled. _

_"Why am I doing all this?" She thought to herself. _

_It was times like this when she questioned if things were really all worth it. She always had the worst of luck, the worst of times, and she always had bad things following along behind her. It was like she was sucking out all the bad luck everyone else experienced and taking it for her own. It might have been great for others if this was the case, but not for the one sucking it all up._

_If anyone else experienced the same type of luck she experienced, she would have snapped. She was strong in her own way to go on for so long while experiencing the type of bad luck she had to live with, but even that was starting to wear her down as of late. _

_And it was only about to get worse._

_"Aww, what's the matter?" A curious voice asked. It sounded rather perky and sympathetic at the same time. Naegi attempted to wipe her tears away and sniffled to clear her throat. Looking to her right, she was amazed at the appearance of this girl._

_She was a verily tall, slender young girl, who towered over Naegi's height in all manner. Compared to the rest of the female students she's met, she appeared to be wearing a darker-colored school shirt with a bright-red bow tie on her left breast, the size of which left Naegi a little jealous, to her embarrassment. _

_She also had flowing light-pink hair with a much larger bow tie sticking out of the left ponytail she had. Her shoes looked a lot more sick like boots, with a dark-red shoelace filed through the holes. And even her skirt seemed more original as it was dark-red like her shoe lace, completing the entirety of her surprisingly flashy outfit. _

_She seemed like a magnet when it came to the eyes. You would easily be able to point her out among the hundreds of students if they were all gathered around. Naegi found something a little familiar about this girl too, but the blurriness from her tear-covered eyes were getting in the way._

_"W-Who are you?" She sniffled. The tall figure smiled down to her as she bent over, squatting onto her feet._

_"Well this is a surprise." She replied. "You're the first girl I've met around here that doesn't know me off the back." _

_"K-Know you?" Naegi wiped her tears to clear up her vision. If what she said was any form of hint, then it was definitely someone Naegi had to know. Her eyes widened with greatened surprise as she realized who she was talking to. "O-Oh! J-Ju-Junko!" Naegi squealed worriedly, wiping her tears hastily. _

_Junko was like a goddess when it came to the other girls of the world, and why wouldn't she be? After all, she WAS the Super High School Level Super Model, so it was only natural for her to be well known among a large variety of both men and women across the globe. _

_She was worshipped like a goddess should be too. All the boys wanted to be with her, and all the girls wanted to actually be her. To live a life in Junko's shoes, everyone would assume nothing but a life of luxury and paradise, getting ogled and trailed by fanboys, and sometimes fangirls, everywhere. _

_And now, out of all the people in the world, she was talking to Naegi, who hadn't even recognized her at first! It was like a death sentence to herself for doing such a thing! For someone, anyone, to not know the infamous High School Super model, it was like sending her a threatening letter. In retaliation, she wouldn't do anything; her entire fan base would be all over the threatener in minutes. _

_In fact, Naegi even heard rumors of some crazed fans out there committing murders who either insulted Junko over online, or simply to prove their life for her. Naegi didn't know whether or not it was true, but then again, it was probably best not to find out. It was even a smarter decision to not get on Junko's bad side, provided that she had one._

_For a Super Model, she was surprised at how well-mannered and polite she was. She only ever saw Junko conversing with another student one in her life, yet she always had a huge amount of Kindness and Decency, which she wouldn't expect from any super model, much less the world's greatest at that. Like some people would expect from a famous or rich folk, she expected her to be all moody or more self-absorbed in her own appearance and wants compared to others. _

_Yet here she was, just asking Naegi what was wrong with her. She even took the time to gently grasp Naegi's face in her hands, wiping of the tears gently with the tips of her thumb. _

_"Pretty girls shouldn't go getting themselves worked up and crying." Junko commented, licking her thumb a little to wipe away the dry streaks. Naegi couldn't help but blush a little. While she was occasionally complimented for her choice of clothing at least once or twice in her life, not once had anyone ever called her pretty. "It ruins the makeup they work so hard to put on, especially around the eyes."_

_Junko tilted her head, looking at Naegi curiously. "Although… I can't see any smudges or bits of makeup streaking from your face right now." She continued. "Did you already wipe it off or something?"_

_"I-I…" Naegi sniffled a little to speak clearly. "I-I don't use makeup." She stated. Junko let out an audible gasp of shock as a surprised look filled her face._

_"O.M.G! Are you serious?!" She stammered. She had a silly grin on her face as she began pinching and rubbing around Naegi's cheeks playfully. "This cutey-widdle face doesn't have a single bit of makeup?" She squealed. _

_Now naegi was really blushing. It wasn't so much anymore from the compliments she was receiving as it was the pinching and tone she was feeling and hearing. It reminded her of her grandma when she was little, remembering all the times she would say how cute she was while pinching Naegi's face. It always embarrassed her. _

_"Y-You're embarrassing me, r-really." Naegi muttered shifting her eyes away. She shifted them back after hearing a strange pouting "humph" coming from Junko, who was now kneeling by Naegi's side by now._

_"Well this isn't right! I'm supposed to be the Super Model here, not you!" She complained. Naegi finally understood what she was trying to do. While she couldn't tell if she was being serious or not about the compliments, she finally realized Junko was just trying to help cheer Naegi up. It didn't prevent her from forgetting the pain and humiliation the teacher put her through awhile ago, but she did feel a little better. _

_"Y-You're f-flattering me, r-really..." Naegi muttered with a small smile. Junko chuckled as she leaned against locker, sitting by Naegi's side._

_"Sooooo, why don't ya go ahead and tell Auntie Junko all about y'er problems, huh?" Junko suggested with a smile. Naegi didn't really want to talk about it. She just lowered her head forward as she frowned again._

_"I... I don't really want to talk about it..." She muttered. _

_"Aww poo..." Junko pouted with her cheeks puffed. She childishly curled her legs up and hugged them into her chest. "Ok, we'll play the guessing game then!" She decided in a perky tone. It was surprising to Naegi how quickly she could change her tone or expression. She figured it was one of the many necessities to being a model, seeing how you had to take so many pictures in the most efficient time as possible. "Is iiiiiit boyfriend problems?"_

_"No." Naegi muttered softly._

_"Family issues?"_

_"No."_

_"Uncle abducted and probed by an alien and went crazy?"_

_"N-tch..." Naegi chuckled in the middle of answering. "N-No." _

_"Hmm..." Junko rubbed her chin in thought, puckering her lips as she tried to think like a detective. "Is it...some embarrassing or humiliating event that occurred as a result of your panties sticking out?"_

_"N-!" Naegi's eyes widened, staring at her in disbelief. "T-That was dead on! How did you know?!" _

_Was Psychic-ness another aspect of modeling?! Being a detective?! A Wizard?!_

_"Because the side of your skirt is sagging on the side here and revealing your thigh and panty." Junko pointed out the exposure as she pointed down with her finger._

_"Huh-! AHHH!" Naegi screeched from embarrassment as she quickly covered up her exposed part. Like before, she had a dark red blush covering her face as she squeezed her eyes shut. Inside her eyelids, her tears were filling up the edges of her eye. Not once but twice now she had some bit of her exposed, and in front of a super model of all people. She was lucky no one else was there at the moment to talk about this._

_...At least not that she knew._

_"You know they usually have clips to help those stay up." Naegi looked down the hall to her right as she heard Ikusaba speak. Her blush deepened even more, knowing she just heard what happened._

_"I-Ikusaba!" She squeaked. _

_"You shouldn't let that dumb pervert get to you, ya know?" Ikusaba commented as she sat next to her on her right. "He does this with just about all the students. If it wasn't for his expertise in teaching Social Studies, the school wouldn't have been stupid enough to hire him._

_"W-Well it's not all his fault." Naegi replied curling up her knees too. She made sure to at least tuck her skirt between her legs, keeping herself more covered. "I-I mean I have been dozing off recently and all."_

_"Ooooh, that's just quitter talk!" Junko pouted. "You should be defending your honor, fight for glorious victory!" She pumped raising her fist in the air._

_Awkward silence._

_Awkward silence._

_Sweat dripping from behind Ikusaba's and Naegi's head followed by awkward silence. _

_"...I...Think she means you should be shouting back or whatever. Defend your dignity or something." Ikusaba clarified. "You shouldn't let people like him bully you." _

_"Huff," Naegi sighed, "I know, but I'm used to this by now. Getting bullied by the students, harassed by the staff, it's just hopeless stuff I have to deal with." _

_Ikusaba glanced her eyes over observingly at Junko. Already, she could see the glistening light of her eyes sparkling at what Naegi had just said. It was one of her favorite words in existence! Hopeless, without hope, utter hopelessness, etc. Anything that had to do with Hope in a negative format like that was her absolute favorite thing. Naturally Ikusaba would know Junko well enough to know when and why she lights up. After all, they are sisters, which is something that barely a few of the thousand people in this school even knew!_

_All was for the glorious future sake of despair, right down to a hopeless future and the end of the world. There wouldn't be much fun to bask in their despair if the rest of the world was happy and hopeful. That's pretty much the sum of why they even came to this school to begin with, as well as experiment future projects and ideas Junko had floating around her head. It was for Science, and Despair! _

_Mostly Despair. _

_"Well my little Naegi, I actually feel for ya, you know?" Junko said with a sly smile, patting Naegi's head tenderly. "Believe it or not, there's quiiiiite a lot of people out there with the same issues as you that deal with this sorta thing. With depression, feeling hopeless. And surprisingly not suicidal!" Junko, for whatever reason, felt an apparent need to emphasis on that part. "Would you like to meet these fellow hopeless people?" She looked at Naegi with an upmost expectancy. _

_Junko didn't like people, she barely liked anyone truly. Perhaps that's a lie to say, but from the look of others it would be accurate. The only people she even showed any interest in were those useful to her, or loyal followers she would keep around until they would get boring. She was sure she could find some sort of use for Naegi even._

_All she cared about in people was the despair of feeling for them when they were finally taken away from her. It brought about an absolute moment of blissfulness and ecstasy to her, which she had no issue with "releasing" those feelings whenever she had the time to herself. _

_Watching Naegi's head tilt facing her, Junko grew an excited smile, both to herself and Naegi. She was waiting with butterflies in her chest as she watched Naegi prepare to say the words she wished to hear. _

_"But I haven't given up hope yet." Naegi replied. _

_Junko screamed in her head excitedly. "Woohoo!" _

_"In that case, why don't I introoooo-k, what did you just say again?" The excited happy-going smile on Junko's face slowly dwindled down to a look of confusion. _

_"Did I just hear that right?" She asked herself inside her mind._

_"I said I haven't given up my hope yet." Naegi repeated. She leaned her head on top of her arms over her chin as she spoke. "I mean just because a situations hopeless to people, doesn't mean I've decided to stop hoping for something better." Ikusaba actually felt a lump in her throat. She had no idea how she, or her sister of all people, were going to take that._

_"B... But you're not really hoping for things, right?" Junko asked with a tense smile which Naegi couldn't see. "W-Why not just give up and accept the hopelessness in life? Then you can still move on without a heavy weight in your heart."_

_"Because why bother?" Naegi asked her back. "I mean, if I just gave up at every situation because it was hopeless, then what good am I to people? I mean look at you," she caught both girls off by surprise as she looked to Junko, "you have a modeling career, virtually millions and billions of fans who look up to you. Clearly, you must have had a lot of hope for your future, right?" _

_Ikusaba caught another lump in her throat as her vacant expression showed an invisible mask of terror and fear. Never, and that means never, had anyone in Junko's life ever accused her of having even the slightest ounce of hope. It wasn't that people didn't believe in her, no one's just had the gall to go up to her and say anything about her and hope in the same sentence of a conversation. _

_Naegi clearly had no idea what she had just done. Naegi couldn't see it, but Ikusaba could see the fiery hatred and rage building up behind Junko's eyelids. It was the mark of a wild animal, perhaps demon of all things, just waiting to break out and lash at her oppressors. If Junko lashed out and killed Naegi right now, tearing her limb from limb, Ikusaba would not be surprised. In fact, even though she would've felt bad for Naegi, she just waited for it to happen._

_"...Hmhmhm!" Junko chuckled with a perky smile, patting Naegi's head. "I guess you caught me there." _

_"Say what?!" Ikusaba's eyes bulged out as she shouted in her head. _

_"Yeah, I guess that is true isn't it?" Junko easily agreed in a simple tone. She focused her gaze as she watched Naegi rub her eyes sleepily. "Someone looks a little tie-tie." She commented as she helped Naegi to her feet. "Why don't you go get some rest in your room or something? I'll go get whatever homework you have from your classes, ok?" _

_"Awwwwwhn!" Naegi yawned with a smile as she nodded with half-asleep eyes. "Y-Yeah, ok. A-Are you sure though that you can do that? I-I mean don't I have to show up for class or-!" Naegi silenced when Junko put the tip of her finger up to Naegi's lips._

_"You just let me worry about that." Junko insisted. "It comes as a Modeler. I just have to work a bit of my charm and I can get you a freaking month-paid vacation if you wanted!" _

_"Heh..." Naegi chuckled again as she gathered her books and supplies. She never thought once in her life that she would be having a conversation with a famous modeler, much less befriending one. "O-Ok, thanks." She waved goodbye to the two as she walked towards her room._

_It was a few yards away down the hallway, so both girls managed to watch her as she left. Iksuaba gave her a small sweet smile with a wave as she returned the goodbye, watching until Naegi was inside the door and the room was closed. It was surprising to her the school would afford or even care about making rooms soundproof. Staring in the same direction for a few seconds, Ikusaba let out a sigh of relief, uncertain what to make of the situation. "Huff! I gotta hand it to ya sis, I didn't think you'd take that so wel-_

_***CRACK!***_

_"J-Junko!" Ikusaba gaped in shock. _

_She wasn't surprising as she just watched her sister break her own fingers so suddenly to deal with pent up emotions, while still disgusting Ikusaba somewhat, but she was surprised she would do it out in the open like this so carelessly. Ikusaba quickly looked around, relieved no one had bore witness to the sudden scene or heard such a noise, quickly rushing to Junko's side once the coast was clear. Her sister wasn't a soldier, yet she didn't have a single tear or wince on her face to show how much pain she was in. She just kept staring at the door Naegi entered with a blank expression. _

_"Hmm...I never thought I'd see the moment in my life when someone would reject me like that." She commented, not caring in the least for her several broken and purple-colored swollen fingers. "I'm not getting ugly these days, am I?" She asked curiously._

_"Gah, forget about that stuff!" Ikusaba grumbled back, re-snapping Junko's fingers back into place. It was more surprising to not see a single reaction from Junko's person as Ikusaba did this. "If it means anything, you're not getting ugly and doubt you ever will. Just don't do this stupid stuff out in public like this!"_

_"That Makoto Naegi..." Junko muttered. A sickeningly sly grin grew on her face as she moistened her lips. "She has a fountain of such succulent despair about her." _

_"Huh?" Now the confused Ikusaba was met with even more confusion. "What do you mean? Didn't you even hear what she just said? She's not interested, and she still hasn't given up hope."_

_"I know, but...huuughhghuuhgghh..." Junko lewdly smiled as she wobbled slowly from side to side. She couldn't help it as she touched herself a little, the heat coming off her breath being immense. "If you turn that all around, then at the same time, she has an endless fount of despair...perhaps even more than meeeee..." She drooled. Ikusaba rolled her eyes as she wiped the drool from her sister's lips and pulled her arms away from touching herself._

_"You really don't know when or how to take no for an answer, do you? And why are you acting like this?!" This was crazy to watch, even coming from Junko of all people! _

_Ikusaba didn't think such a thing was possible!_

_"Because...I saw __**it**__..." Junko flushed._

_"It?"_

_"It... That one little sparkle of never-ending-ness." Junko drooled again just from thinking about it. "Just picturing __**it**__...all that possible despair...she's something of an enigma."_

_Apparently a life-long sisterly relationship of just having the two growing up together for the past fifteen years wasn't enough to prevent how weirded how Ikusaba was feeling. _

_"Besides, why wouldn't I be aroused from that?" Junko asked with a puff. "She already said things were hopeless, right? That never-ending fountain is just preventing her from a great big, permanent push that she needs." Ikusaba understood that of course, being in the same group of despair as her, but she still felt bad for hearing Naegi saying that. _

_Naegi felt a little different from the rest of the people she's ever encountered in her life. Most people by this point would succumb to their own despair and sorrow, and usually take the easy way out in the form of suicide. Either that, or they would sometimes commit mass murders before committing their own murder, just for the sake of bringing other people down with them. _

_Yet Naegi was different from those people. No matter how down on life Naegi felt about her own, she always continued to push forward. It was a bit of something that actually scared Ikusaba. No matter how shitty or down on her luck she would get, she would just pass it off and continue her daily life as normal. Sometimes her luck actually would improve for awhile before getting bad, and sometimes it would get really worse before it got back to just being bad again. _

_But Naegi just went with the flow of it for some reason, and for that part of it, Ikusaba couldn't help but feel drawn to. Kind of like when two negatives meet each other, but Naegi was both positive and negative. She kept giving off this strange sense of hope to herself and to those around her...and for some reason, Ikusaba liked this feeling. It wasn't something she could understand, she just did. _

_"Yeah well..." Iksaba shook her head dismissively, trying to forget her sister's earlier behavior. "For now, why don't you focus on finding a way to help her?"_

_"Help... her?" Junko never heard those words used directed towards her. Whenever the words "help" and "her" came up, it was usually about someone else helping her, not the other way around. _

_"Yeah, her." Ikusaba said with the roll of her eyes. "I mean, if she fails this school year, you won't get to have much fun experimenting with her, right? And she won't have anymore of a chance to graduate if she pass this year if perverted teachers like that one guy keep pestering and harassing her, right?"_

_"...Ah." Junko slowly smiled at this. "Just leave it to me..."_

_..._

_..._

_"Stupid kids..." The teacher grumbled to himself as he flipped through the papers. _

_Not one of them looked even satisfying enough to read or go over for corrections. He always liked when he students offered him some form of extraordinary piece of homework or project, always loving to go through it and see how perfected it was. This time around, he wasn't really having any luck this late at night. Not one of these pieces of papers looked incredible enough to grab his attention for more than a few seconds. It all looked liked jumbled garbage to him. _

_The disappointment came along after teaching a dozen classes throughout the day, humiliating one student or another if he caught any of them slacking off or looking distracted. He truly wasn't a bad guy, that was just how he was brought up into teaching. Whenever a student was slacking, or not paying attention at least, humiliation helped ensure that student wouldn't make the same mistake again. How else could he come about as being one of the most renowned teachers in the country?_

_His methods may be a little off, but the end results never differed. He truly felt like he was just helping people, so no one could really feel mad at him or bad about it. _

_Speaking of his work, he was currently showing another outstanding display of what got him hired here to begin with. Most people would think given how fast he was flipping through them, that he was just doing that; flipping through them. Believe it or not, that's how fast he managed to go through his papers, jotting down every detail, both right and wrong, and grading it in the grade book at the same time. He wanted something to really grab his interests, at least for more than a few minutes. _

_Unluckily for him, the Devil answered his prayers._

_"T-Teacher...?" A squeamish-yet-sweet voice spoke up as the door opened. _

_"Huh?" The teacher looked back in curiosity. His body immediately became warm upon seeing the Ultimate Super Model gingerly entering the room, instantly noticing a few tears up the top of her shirt where her cleavage stuck out. Her shirt appeared to be slightly torn, exposing a few parts of skin around her chest that really got to him. Nothing anything fancy, or at least by his definition, but just enough for him to focus without looking like a lunatic. He had to force himself not to grin at the sudden "interest" that wandered into his room. "A-Ah, y-you must be Ms. Enoshima, right?" He lowered his papers as he rubbed his chin curiously with a smile. "How can I help you?"_

_Junko only grinned as she shrewdly close the door behind her. _

_Not many people would expect it, and many more were shocked at just a turnabout! Nobody knew that Mr. Koisk was suicidal enough to tear open his own stomach within his room. Fact of the matter is, that's exactly all that happened. Junko had absolutely no part in his suicide whatsoever. All she did is what she did best- bring out her charm, and let her "magic" do the work..._

_..._

_..._

...

"So, you wanted to speak with me?" Ikusaba asked firmly without a tremble in her voice.

The bitter cold of the room was getting to her like it did everyone else within the school, save for the puppet master. Only now, without anyone who didn't know her secret identity absent from the scenery, she didn't have to put on some fake display like the cold was getting to her. She was a soldier, and a proud one at that. Something as chilling as this current temperature wasn't enough to make her voice tremble or quiver while speaking.

That couldn't be said for anyone else unfortunately. After recent events, Monokuma's newest motive kicked in. What at first everyone thought was just a perverted joke of taking everyone's clothing, save for the undergarments, they later came to understand that it was the cold that he was truly looking for in the motive. And it wasn't just a simple cold either; it was a cold that kept getting colder.

Minute after minute, hour after hour, the temperature continued to drop. There was no indication or expectancy to stop the dropping cold until either the next murder was pulled off, or until the temperature was a little under -2 degrees. You want to know that part that really put the icing, pardon the pun, on the cake? To make everything _better_ for everyone, Monokuma set off the school's Fire Sprinklers every couple hours. The freezing water mixed in with the freezing cold created a winter-like atmosphere for everybody to experience. It was only eighteen degrees, yet by this point everybody could see their breath, in part thanks to the humidity caused by the sprinklers.

As if that wasn't enough, there was also a very special rule in place about the next victim- unless it was self-defense, it had to be Sakura. It was understandable for the headmaster to be outraged with her, after she turned her back and declared she would fight against him, but nobody expected him to push things so far as to leave a do-or-die motive in it's place! That's all it came down to at this moment, either commit the murder, or die as their bodies would freeze to death in this freezing cold.

And why did it have to include the Ultimate Fighter of all people?! To murder someone like Owada for example, that was probably less threatening. While he still had plenty of muscle, and a personality that terrified some people who never took the time to know him, at least he didn't have muscles bulging out that were bigger than his head. And there was a guarantee the murder wouldn't happen at this point, because, while it would be an interesting mix to watch in action, Owada's Man's Honor would prevent him from ever harming a lady, including Sakura.

So now, because she wanted to talk to everyone, Ikusaba and Oogami were taking the time to meet face to face. The atmosphere in this room was much more intense than previously, not just because of the freezing cold either. Oogami knew Ikusaba's secret. Ikusaba knew Oogami's secret, although that pretty much lost all it's respect and power the minute Monokuma decided to announce it publicly. And now they were meeting face to face for the first time since Ikusaba met everyone, back when Hagakure, Fukawa, and Ishimaru were still alive.

Oogami would admit she was surprised to see her at all at any point, but she never thought she would see her actually trying to participate in this twisted game either. She must have wanted something by this point, and Oogami had a relatively good hunch of what that something was. It didn't bother her of course, so long as no actual harm came to that "something" or anyone else around her.

So now was time to get to the matter of the business. The problem was just figuring out what to say.

"Yes, thank you Mukuro." Oogami replied with a nod, still crossing her arms. There was no way Ikusaba could go through this without her heart racing. With several more students waiting behind those doors of the Rec room waiting to talk to Oogami, there was no way Ikusaba would expect Oogami to go through everyone without exposing her to everyone.

"So...What is this about?" Ikusaba asked a little tensely. She rubbed the tip of her hands together, trying to keep them somewhat warm.

"It's..." Oogami paused briefly closing her eyes. "It's about you, of course."

"Of course." kusaba groaned out. This wouldn't end well by her standards. "So, you gonna do it?" Oogami gazed her at this.

"Do what?" She wondered. Ikusaba was a soldier, and a gifted one at that. She was sure Ikusaba was on to Oogami's plans.

"Expose me to everyone before you kill yourself, I mean."

"Hmhm." Oogami chuckled for the first time in awhile since Ikusaba met her. "Is it that obvious? About my suicide?"

"Well, you're having a final meeting with everyone to begin with, so everybody at least expects you to do something drastic." Ikusaba commented, crossing her arms as she leaned back into her chair. "You're only throwing them off by not officially calling it a suicide. They're all filled with some hope, whatever your plan was, that you'll come out alive through it. But I've seen plenty of soldiers like you who have those kinds of eyes, the ones they receive when they know their end's coming."

"Hmhm, that's an amazing deduction you have there." Oogami complimented with a nod. "Only there's one thing wrong with your whole theory."

"Hmm?" Ikusaba raised her brow at this. If something was wrong through her line of reasoning, then what suicidal-related part was it?

"I have no intention of revealing your identity to the rest of the group. That secret will die with me if you or anyone else never expose that." She stated.

"Oh...!" It took Ikuasba a moment to fully realize what she had just said, "Wai- What?!" Her eyes widened in shock.

Despite everything she's done up to this point, every plan she's assisted the puppet master in, Oogami stated that she had no prior intention of ever exposing Ikusaba's secret. This had to be some cruel form of joke or a lie. Ikusaba could not sit there with a straight face, or at one that was as shocked as she was at the time, and not believe for a single second that Oogami planned on taking that information to her grave.

It was unethical, unreasonable. Why would she keep a secret about someone like her of al people?! Iksuaba worked for the enemy, the same one who've practically killed all of Naegi's friends and classmates up to this point! There was no benefit at all in keeping that kind of information to herself!

"W-What do you mean you're not?!" Ikusaba stammered. "At least tell me if you are, I can handle it better when you tell them than hearing a lie about it you know!"

"I'm not lying in the least." Oogami said with a smile. "I will not expose you to the others."

"Y-You-!" Ikusaba was fuming. She couldn't understand why, but some part of her was furious about Oogami's decision. "Y-You're just trying to rile me up, aren't you? Y-You're hope I lash out a-and attack you or something, and then kill me in self-defense, right?!"

"If you attack me, I will defend myself." Oogami maintained the same smile and composure while saying this. "But I will not kill you, I will just refrain you from being able to kill me."

"B-But..." Nothing made sense anymore to her. Why was Oogami doing this? What was there to gain? "B-But why?"

"Because, if you kill me, you will just be the murderer of the class trial, and most likely be found out."

"I mean why on the other bit!" Iksuaba yelled as she stood. It was a good thing the doors were soundproof or the others would've easily heard that. Standing straight up, in the almost-nude, Ikusaba couldn't stop her body from partially shaking from the goose bumps she received. She still maintained full control otherwise of her shaking and her trembling voice. "What benefit do you have in not exposing my secret? You have to tell me!"

Oogami opened one of her eyes to look at her. She could see all the mixed and pent up confusion she had covering her eyelids, but she could also see one more other expression that truly reached to her- sadness. It's almost as if Iksuaba wanted Oogami to expose her secret for everyone to know, let them all realize what a traitor she was and possibly shun her from their society. It looked more like Iksuaba was actually hoping for this, not expecting it.

She found herself being filled with this sadness, feeling sympathetic for the Ultimate Mercenary. To say these things with nothing but certainty and with such a reaction, it was as if Ikusaba never once experienced someone standing up for her, and it was making her angry to not just hear the truth than it would have.

"Do you truly wish to know the benefit, then?" Oogami wondered, closing her eyes again.

"Yes!" Ikusaba yelped squeezing her fist. She had to expose her secret, she just had to! She was just toying with Ikusaba, and she knew it! That had to be the only reason of all things.

"It's really simple then." Oogami stated. She opened her eyes with a smile. "There is none."

"...!"

Ikusaba was speechless, leaving her jaw gaped open without an utterance of a single word. Of course there wasn't one, and that was only because Oogami wasn't telling her! She had to have some secret benefit she was withholding from Ikusaba, there just had to be! Did she want to get a final kick out of seeing Ikusaba squirm like this before she met her end? Push her buttons one last time for everything she and her partner did to her and her Dojo? Was this some form of revenge? What was this supposed to be?!

And how was she supposed to be feeling? Is Oogami just waiting for her to drop her guard and then tell her it was a lie? Or maybe Oogami planned on having her drop her guard, and then kill her along with herself so she couldn't hurt anyone else again! Yes, it all made sense now! Ikusaba just had to stand at the ready the entire time and not show even an ounce of weakness! She tightened her fists and stood at the ready, preparing any second now for when Oogmai inevitably lunged at her.

She decided to wait for the right opportunity of all things. In fact, she just needed to play along and trick her into making the first move! This plan was perfect!

"What do you want me to do? Get on my knees and beg? Is that it?!" Ikusaba continued to burst angrily. For some reason she couldn't understand, she saw Oogami smirking at this with a laughter clenched in her throat. "What's so funny?!"

"I'm sorry, Ikusaba." Oogami apologized. "It's just that I never thought it would be that much of an issue."

"W-What issue?" Ikusaba's brow twitched, fighting the urge to break her sudden composure. "I-I don't have an issue!"

"And I have no reason to expose your secret to anyone." Oogami stated proudly. "They are safe with you around."

Ikusaba was taken back by that last comment. Safe? With her? Was Oogami truly being serious, or just seeing how far she could push Ikusaba before she snapped? She couldn't be surprised if it was the latter because it was starting to work here, a little too well at that.

"Y-You're..." Ikusaba failed to bring up a definitive argument that made sense. "Y-You're just...Just trying to get to me, aren't you!" She pointed accusingly. "Wait until I drop my guard, snap my neck when I'm not looking, I'm right aren't I?!"

"Ikuasba..." Oogami didn't know how to continue this conversation. She was honest about all she said, yet Ikusaba continued to disbelieve her after everything she said. "If you truly hold that disbelief in my words, then you may take my life if you wish. I will not stop you."

"S-Stop it!" Something was happening to Ikusaba she didn't think anything less than Naegi's death would cause her to do- she was starting to tear up. "J-Just tell me that you're going to betray me! I know you will!"

"If it would make you feel any better, then remain here." Oogami suggested, catching Ikusaba by surprise yet again. "Remain here to ensure I don't expose you to anyone else, and then watch as I end my own life with my own hands. Just promise me you won't change the crime scene or anything after. I would prefer if this remained simple and quick for the next class trial."

"...Tccch!" Ikusaba bit her lip as her eyes watered.

This is what she relished in despair. That empty feeling in one's heart when they know nothing but never-ending pain and misery awaits them in the future. It's what she yearned for, what she is. Yet, why now, of all times of feeling despair...did she not enjoy it? She couldn't enjoy any feeling or aspect of it. It just felt like am empty pit of nothingness, a nothingness with not even despair for her left.

It brought her utter and complete sadness.

"W-Why..." She lowered her head turning away as she asked this. "W-Why won't you...Why won't you tell them the truth?"

Oogami was silent for a bit. It appeased her that she finally seemed to be trusting her words. She would prefer to keep it that way for the rest of this meeting. "Because, you are our friend."

"Hngh?" She mumbled with her tongue slurring her tone.

Friend? Their friend? It was all just a game to people like Ikusaba, nothing more than an act. Pretend to be their ally, dive into the group and spread chaos from the in outward, and enjoy ever moment she tormented everyone else around her. So why now of all times did those words truly touch her? Touch her heart? It wasn't making any sense to her of all things she's heard up to this point.

Why would she be a friend? Why would she even want a friend herself? Was her mind subconsciously tricking her into accepting this to friendship, just so she could enjoy the despair of it afterwards? She couldn't doubt herself or anything Oogami said at this point without conflicting herself. Something just didn't seem right about this that she couldn't put her finger on. It was no longer a trick, and it was no longer a lie. The world still seemed alien to her of course, but she couldn't argue about it until she understood what she meant.

"Fr...Friend?" Ikusaba questioned. Oogami nodded with an assured smile.

"Yes, Ikusaba. You may not feel it yourself, but you have a connection to the rest of us, and we all feel it." Oogami replied. "There's no amount of acting that can hide your feelings, and this I know."

"M-My feelings...?" Ikusaba sat back in her chair as she twiddled her thumbs a bit. "D-Does this have anything to do with N-Naegi?" She asked with a slight blush, looking away. "T-The thing with her is just her, ok? It doesn't have anything to do with anyone else, a-alright?"

"Hahaha!" Oogami actually laughed in a bellowing laughter at that. "I'm not referring to that either actually." Oogami replied with a smile across her face. "While her input did have some weight, you haven't done a good job hiding your true emotions towards everyone else. I've seen the way you stood to the puppet master, the outrage you've felt against their schemes as of late. No matter how much you insist it's an act, I can see your true heart just by looking into your eyes. You're a good person inside."

"...S-Sakura..." Ikusaba couldn't even look her in the face. How could she after what she just said? For someone to call Ikusaba a good person, someone who knew the _true_ Ikusaba at that... She didn't know what to say. All she could do was twiddle her thumbs nervously. "I-If that's how you truly feel, t-then why not just go on out and expose me anyway?" She asked. "Put it to a test for your own amusement or otherwise. W-What do you have to fear if you're sure everyone feels that way?"

It was the perfect way for her to counter her! Just bring up how everyone trusted her, and then throw a Kirigiri at her.

Figuratively speaking of course.

Oogami just smiled closing her eyes. "Because we are friends, Mukuro. It would be wrong for me to do so against your consent."

"Yeah?! Well what about Ki-?" Once again, Oogami left Ikusaba dumbstruck. Either she was a master manipulator with brains to match the brawns, or Ikusaba was just too lost in her own emptiness to believe any of this. "...Huh? M-My consent?"

"Would you like for me to tell them your secret too?" Oogami asked in a curious tone.

"N...N-No." Ikusaba replied calmly. Oogami smiled as she nodded.

"Then I will do no such thing either." She stated. "You are our friend, and whether you're willing to admit that or not, I guarantee it's the truth."

"...I..." Ikkusaba turned away, frowning slightly. "I see..."

She's never had these strange feelings before. What were they? It was like someone was squeezing at her chest, and yet when she opened her eyes to figure out who was doing so, it was her own hands. No one was tugging at her or forcing her to do anything against her wishes. No one was going to do something if Ikusaba was uncomfortable with it. They would just let her be herself, and nothing more.

_"Was this supposed to be what it meant to be friends?"_ Ikusaba thought to herself. It was so confusing to her.

This wasn't the case where she would just act nicely to trick people into befriending her. It wasn't a case for her to just be friends with people, only to later lose those people for her own pleasure. It was just genuine friendship, maybe even for the first time too.

It was suffocating her, causing her heart to increase it's pace. This was something else Oogami could see just by looking at her eyes. It was more than enough proof she needed to confirm her own words. The very act of conflict within herself proved how close she felt towards the others. As to whether or not it could rival her loyalty to her partner, the headmaster, her unknowing love her sister, remained unknown. But it was more to suffice Oogami's trust for the time being. She had all she needed to see, needed to know.

"I... I-I don't know how to react to this." Ikusaba muttered.

"It's alright." Oogami replied with a calm and simple smile. "I'm not asking you to betray the puppet master, nor your friends. I only have one favor, from one friend to another, to ask you."

Ikusaba turned her gaze towards her. Was this what she was going for? Was this all just some psychological or emotional trick she was orchestrating, all to lead up to this very moment? A part of Ikusaba felt defensive again, causing her to grasp her knuckles gently and grit her teeth. She was prepared for just about anything at this point. At least, she believed herself to be ready.

"If a time ever comes, a time where you must decide between the puppet master or your own friends,-" Oogami began.

_"You want me to pick our friends, don't you?"_ Ikusaba thought to herself with a mental, knowing, smile.

"-I would just like for you to do whatever you feel is right." Oogami finished.

This girl was a master manipulator. She had to be! It was the only reason her conflicting words were reaching herself!

"O-Oh!" Ikuasba showed a small bit of surprise at this. Oogami knew she wasn't expecting it, even as she turned away. "Y-You know there's no proof that I'll choose our friends or anything at that time." She reminded. "F-For all you know, I-I could just as easily vote to have them all executed for my own sake! Ever think about that?" Her words weren't threatening, and she wasn't speaking firmly. It was just a simple question to her.

Still, Oogami just smiled. "If that ever happens, then I will still accept it happily." Ikusaba opened her mouth still surprised. "As long as even one of our friends' make it out of this place alive, that's all I need to know."

Pain.

Pain was the only thing she could feel in her chest at the moment.

What was Oogami trying to do to her? Poison her? Drive her mad? Make her want to vomit? Because, except for the poison, it was all working. It was like someone was clenching her heart tight enough to make it pop at any moment, yet the minute she opened her eyes, she would realize the only one clenching her heart was herself. It was like a pain that was both there, and not there at the same time. Was there even a word for it?

It was Hell. Hell was the only way to describe the pain with her inner conflicting feeling she felt at that moment.

"O-Ok." Ikusaba said, replying with the only words she could think of. "I-If that's all, then I'm going now."

"Thank you for your time." Oogami nodded proudly. "Can you please bring in Asahina next?"

"Y-You aren't w-worried I might expose your p-plan to her?" Why was she doing this? She couldn't figure out why she tried maintaining the defensive position, but the stress was clearly getting to her. She could start to feel the cold air surrounding her as she hugged herself freezing. Her words chattered with every word and breath she took, her legs trembling under her own weight.

"If you expose my secret, then that'll be it. But I will not expose your secret unless you give the ok." Oogami replied smiling.

Ikusaba just left there. It was all she knew how to do at that point. Naegi. She needed to focus her mind on Naegi. Something to make her forget her current conflicting condition that was eating at her core ever since this conversation started. It was working fortunately enough, but it couldn't make her shake the pain either. It was unbearable. Her only hope at this point was seeing Naegi. Whatever her condition was, hopefully it would help alleviate the pain in her chest.

...

...

...

"**Naegi!**" Ikusaba shouted worriedly.

Sadly hope was not with her at the time. Kirigiri shakily tilted her head to look at her, but maintained her position.

"W-Wh-What a-are you d-d-doing here?" She chattered asking.

Ikuasba was in complete shock at the sight. Normally, seeing Naegi and Kirigiri almost-naked on Kirigiri's bed would always make her riot or lash out in anger, followed by a close nosebleed from seeing Naegi almost naked to begin with. What she was seeing now, however, wasn't in the same category or reasoning that she expected to see them on Kirigiri's bed. It was actually a sight that brought a worse feeling upon Ikusaba's chest.

Right now, for whatever reason she could think of, Naegi was definitely asleep. Asleep. Asleep! The one thing she couldn't be at a time like this! It was an unfortunate effect of what the cold could potentially bring on. Circadian Rhythms, as Celes described it. It was a psychological effect that induces sleepiness within when one's body fell to a temperature that would normally be associated with sleeping. Even during a blizzard-like cold like this, it was still physically possible.

It was also something that couldn't be afforded. The motive at hand was the continuing decrease temperature that was now currently at 12 degrees and dropping. Mixed in with the freezing cold water that permeated the air, it was the coldest indoor-winter Ikusaba or anyone else had to deal with within their life. It was also a deadly hazard to anyone who fell asleep during this condition.

While under asleep, one's body heat would plummet. Given the freezing cold temperatures it was right now, mixed in with whatever temperature Naegi was currently at, it would indefinitely kill her within a matter of hours if she didn't warm up soon. That was the only excuse Ikusaba could explain for finding Kirigiri and Naegi like they currently were.

It was an original, classic, take to keep one warm. The simple ritual of sharing body heat. With Kirigiri behind Naegi, she was pulling the girl tightly and warmly as best she could. They still had their undergarments on, thank god for Ikusaba's sake, since she was trying to maintain as much heat within Naegi as she could provide. She also had her arms wrapped around her chest, but, after realizing the idea of the matter, Ikusaba wasn't phased by it...entirely.

"S-Sh-She was s-sh-shot by somet-thing..." Kirigiri went on to explain. "A t-t-t-tranquil-lizer, I think."

Ikusaba's pupils shrank. Sleeping darts- one of the oldest traps she and her sister set up within the school during the remodeling for the Mutual Killing game. It would have made things so exciting and classic. After all, how easy is it to drag a sleeping body to mess up a crime scene, kill a person without fear of them ever screaming or running, and then be in a completely different location while having the body hidden somewhere where it would take possibly days to find?

Why did she had to regret it now?!

"Y-You gotta be k-ki-kidding..." Ikusaba grumbled to herself.

This was way wrong! Her sister was completely breaking the rules and trying to kill off Naegi, and that she knew. What she couldn't tell was why? The first time she tried and succeeded in killing Naegi, it was because Ikusaba broke a game rule and swapped out her scrap paper for one of her own. Of course, her reaction might have been going a bit too far, but it was a rule-breaking issue at the time.

This time though, she hasn't broken any rules! At least nothing that she herself knew of. Judging by Kirigiri's shivering, this also happened awhile ago too, so it couldn't have been related to her conversation she just had with Oogami at the time. Was her sister doing it intentionally now?

Grumbling to herself again, she slowly trekked over to the bed, being careful not to slip on the now-icy floor.

"I-I'll be d-d-damned if you h-h-hog her!" She yelled, sliding herself into bed.

Kirigiri grumbled to herself watching her, but for once, she didn't argue. She knew what she was doing as she wrapped her arms around Naegi from the front. She could feel Ikusaba's cold hands touching her back tightly. It wasn't to annoy her, but to keep Naegi pinned closely in-between the two.

She officially had two girls sharing their body heat with Naegi, a scene Kirigiri never thought she'd be a part of. Well there actually was one thought in a similar scenario with this current scene she thought of, but it was better to save that thought for a more appropriate time. Right now, she only cared about keeping Naegi warm as much as Ikusaba did. The girl who could tower over her had her chin resting atop Naegi's head, shivering herself as she felt the water from Kirigiri's bed touch her skin. She wouldn't let it bother no mater what happened. She was prepared to die if it meant keeping Naegi warm.

Of course, that still left a little bickering aura between the two.

"T-Th-This is all your f-f-fault!" Kirigiri raspy replied. Her throat was losing strength now from the cold itself. Within hours, anyone of these students could die if they fell asleep.

"F-F-F-Fuck it i-i-is!" Ikusaba yelled back. Her voice was also surprisingly getting raspy after this much time in Kirigiri's room. She noticed that it was definitely getting colder around here, and anymore of a "Sprinkler Party" from Monokuma would most likely hasten their death. "I-I di-didn't know about a-any of this!" She hissed.

"I-It doesn't m-m-matter!" Kirigiri yelled back. "I-If you di-di-didn't set this all u-up, then none of this would be happening!"

"..." Ikusaba shifted her eyes away with a slight frown.

Kirigiri wasn't sure if her vision was hazing from the cold or her own breath in the way, but she could swear Ikusaba was giving up on the conversation already. This couldn't be happening though, not this quickly. Their banters between one another would last for long periods of times, sometimes even hours! For her to give up this soon, and in this cold? This cold should be nothing for a soldier like her, so what excuse was there for her silence?

A bit of Kirigiri was actually disturbed by this silence, and not for the normal sense either. There was actually something a little sad about the way she just gave up this soon right in front of her. At least when she yelled back and argued, it was a worthy reason to consider her a rival, aside from the fact she created this post-apocalyptic world within the school, and the even bigger one outside the school Kirigiri was currently unaware of.

"W-Well?" Kirigiri spoke up. "S-S-Say so-something!"

"...L-Like w-what?" Ikusaba asked in return. This was completely unlike Ikusaba from who she knew.

"W-What did y-you and Oog-g-gami talk ab-bout?" Something had to have happened in that conversation to affect her like this. She was right too, but she needed confirmation for herself.

"W-We just...t-talked...o-ok?" Ikusaba closed her eyes, trying to grow comfortable despite the surrounding conditions. Kirigiri couldn't help but get a small sleepy feeling in her own eyes at this, wavering them as she struggled to keep them up.

"Y-You know we can't f-f-fa-fall asleep r-right?" She reminded.

"I-I don't care." Kirigiri could feel as she hugged the two girls tighter, her palms digging into her back. "A-As l-long as Naegi's alive, t-that's all w-we care about r-right? The truce?"

Kirigiri almost forgot about all that after this forsaken cold. Of course this would be about the truce. The truce, the whole truce, nothing but the truce, so help her whoever god's ass she had to kick for putting her, the students', and her Naegi's life into this mess.

The truce was the one thing that kept the two from tearing out each others throat, no matter when or whatever opportunity would come up to them. The agreement was always that if Naegi's life was on the line, they would both stop any and all dispute for Naegi's sake. It didn't mean they had to like each other, in fact they hated each other even more when they had this truce going on. But it was the only way to ensure Naegi would live between the two of them constantly going at it, like at her bedside right now.

It was still a little strange to see Ikusaba like this to her. Even with the truce, the way she timidly looked away and everything wasn't like her at all.

"W-Wh-What hap-happened during that m-meeting you had with h-her?" Kirigiri asked. She knew for a fact Ikusaba didn't kill her. With how cold it was, Oogami's massive strength, Ikusaba's lack of weaponry, and the fact several students were waiting outside the Rec. Room door for their turn after, it wasn't at least a murder she had to worry about.

"W-We just...t-talked." Ikusaba mumbled.

"T-T-Talked?"

"Y-Yeah..." Ikusaba closed her eyes to rest again. "I-I'll t-te-tell you tomorrow, I pr-promise." Kirigiri needed to do it, if only for a little while. The cold was taking it's effect on her energy, her body trying to keep itself warm, and despite the bed being soaking wet, it was still comfortable compared to standing. She just had to maintain her focus and-

She fell asleep.

...

...

...

_***Diiing dooong...***_

_***Diiiing doooong...***_

_**"Gooooood morning, students! It is now 7 A.M. Let's have ourselves another beautiful day!"**_

"Mmh...not now..." Naegi mumbled in her sleep, scratching her dry head.

...

...

...

Naegi's eyes opened at what she just realized. Well, that, and now she was even more awake waking up to a pair of breasts squeezing her in the face. An immense blush covered the majority of her face as she jolted awake, trying to push herself away from whatever was keeping her stuck between a rock and a hard place, or however the saying went. Or maybe a rock and a _soft place_ was currently the better expression? All she knew is that something was keeping her pinned in place as she felt what appeared to be two pairs of arms wrapped tightly around her.

And she was suffocating.

"Mmh...Hmm...Hmm!" Naegi muttered embarrassingly as she squired. From the light snoring she could hear, she assumed whoever was with her was sleeping. And they were about to kill her in their sleep. "W-Whammmm...Hmm!"

"Ngh..." Ikusaba mumbled opening her eyes slowly. "What is it Nae-! Naegi!" Ikusaba quickly pulled Naegi up, prying her of her arms and Kirigiri's at the same time. Feeling the sudden motion, Kirigiri stirred from her slumber too. Whatever just moved, it was brushy and ticked her chest as it moved. Looking ahead, she found Naegi awake, all safe and-!

"Naegi!" Kirigiri screeched, unable to contain her excitement Naegi's suffocation returned to her as both girls were squeezing the virtual life out of her. Out of one suffocating scenario, and into another, Naegi never thought her own death would come at the hands of her best friends like this. "You're alive!"

"N-Nghhhh-ack!" Naegi gagged to breathe, turning bluish in skin color. "N-ack! N-Not for l-l-looong..." She screeched. Both girls immediately opened their eyes again. For a spit second, they were horrified at the bluish-colored girl before finally releasing their grip. They were embarrassed with themselves with how blunt they were with their happiness, but they were especially happy to have her alive. She gagged and coughed rubbing her throat, trying to breathe again.

"Ack-! Haughhh..." She groaned. "I-I think it's morn-." Naegi commented as her attention shifted to something else on the bed. She gasped, unable to believe what it was. "O-Our clothes!" She squealed, crawling over to it.

Ikusaba and Kirigiri were both surprised by the statement, and even more so when they saw the same sight. True enough, it was well indeed their clothing, all piled neat and orderly, folded into place, for all their convenience. They couldn't believe it! Warmth had returned to all of them! Warmth, and a realization that quickly brought an end to the brief happiness the three of them felt. Naegi was holding onto her white undershirt by the time she realized what this all meant.

"D-Does that..." She faced the two directly. "Does that mean that..." Both girls frowned knowingly. There was only one way this warmth could have returned to them. And only one of the two knew who the person in question must have been.

Naegi felt tears welling up on the side, though managed to not show it, while looking back at her shirt. To be so stricken with happiness for a small time, only to realize that it was unfitting for what it meant. It partly disgusted her that she felt so relieved for one moment, acting as if she didn't care about anything else. With a frown, Naegi's arms drooped in front of her as she looked down. It didn't matter if whoever did it this time did it for their benefit or not.

Someone must have killed Sakura, and Kirigiri was especially sure of that. It was the only way the three of them could have possibly survived the night, the night Kirigiri shamefully fell asleep when she knew it was a mistake. And Ikusaba knew the reasoning behind it, and knew of the expectancy of the suicide beforehand, and did nothing to stop it. While neither girl knew what the other was thinking, they would both be wondering who should feel worse if they did.

"Y-You... You shouldn't feel too bad Naegi..." Kirigiri tried, hoping to at least provide some encouragement. "This just means more of a reason for us to strengthen our resolve and everything, right?" Naegi sniffled, but looked at her firmly with a nod.

Her resolve was her entire reason of being at this point. She needed to live, both for her sake, and the sake of her friends who were alive and dead. For everyone that suffered through this nightmare, Naegi had to resolve and strengthen to grow stronger. It didn't make the pain any less unbearable though as she frowned again.

"I-I just don't understand though." She mumbled.

"Understand what?" Ikusaba asked curiously. A person was dead, what was to understand.

"How...How did someone manage to kill Sakura then?" She wondered. Ikusaba took the moment to devise that scenario. It couldn't be a direct assault to herself, and she doubted anyone else managed to pull off the murder either. Looking back and forth between Kirigiri and Naegi, Ikusaba gave her assumption. "W-Well...Maybe they-"

_***Diiing dooong...***_

_***Diiiing dooong...***_

_**"We got a corpse here! We'll be holding a Class Trial pretty soon, so make good use of the time you got!"**_

"...? Wait, that can't be right." Ikusaba rubbed her chin in thought. Kirigiri eyed her suspiciously.

"What can't?" She asked.

"Think about how early it is. If she's still dead on the third floor, how did three people see her by this point?"

"...How did you know she was on the third floor still?" Kirigiri was getting even more suspicious. Ikusaba stared for a few seconds before mentally gasping, covering her mouth in shock. The happy reunion they all had several minutes ago, combined with the realization Naegi was still alive, she just had to go and blurt out something without thinking. To pull on her heart strings further, Naegi herself was giving her a mixed worried and perplexed look.

"W-What do you mean by that, Ikusaba?" Naegi asked, her voice trembling. She had to act and reply fast.

"I-I errr...I-I m-mean that-"

_**"And for those of you who doubt otherwise, please come by Celestia Ludenberg's room at once. That will be all."**_

The trio didn't even notice that Monokuma had stayed on the monitor during the short while they spoke up till now. It just showed how distracted they were by Ikusaba's blatant comment.

A comment Naegi quickly forgot as she just realized something.

"Wait, what did he just say about Celes?"

...

..

...

A/N: I'm back baba! WHOooooooooooooooooooooack! Hairball *cough* Ok maybe not 100% back, but getting this much done in the course of a single day, I'd say it's a good start XP!

Once again, a shoutout to Leez for apparently getting me back on this. It just goes to show you people- The power of flattery can work miracles. And what better reward than the monthly new "Reviewer of the month" award ^^ *takes down Westerner's picture and tosses it into the incinerator to be replaced by Leez*

lol. Seriously though, thank you all in addition for the support. While one of you may have gone both ways, and don't worry I won't say it was you explosive :P, you all apparently really wanted me to finish this fanfic, and I'm a bit surprised by the amount of feedback for it ^^ *sniff* YOU MUST TRULY LOVE ME X*!

Audience: We don't even know your first name!

A/N: WHY ARE THEY STILL HERE?!

Anyway, thank you all for the love and support ^^ I hope this one LOOONG comeback chapter makes up for the delays, and lets hope we continue this trend for awhile ^^ I will admit i might miss a day or two due to school getting closer to it's end, but I'll work diligently on seeing this fanfic through to the end ^^!

Thank you all! And for naturally accepting the fact I rushed the ending a little (c'mon, ITS OVER 12K WORDS IN A DAY, GIVE ME SOME SLACK XD!)

And as always, Like, fav, and review if you enjoyed ^^!


	29. A Warming and Strange Morning

A/N: Weird- I write an incredibly short chp and I got nearly dozens of reviews. I write a post-chapter immediately after containing 13K+ words, and get squat...ITS ALL A CONSPIRACY!

Lol, no worries, fine either way ^^ Hope you all had a good Halloween ^^ Except for the bed-reddening Cold I got from last night, I feel fine!...even though things are slightly rotating every several seconds...the colros aren't what they used to be...and I'm bleeding from my stomach...and my shoulders dislocated...and those blue-skinned three-fingered hippies from Venus are giving me an alienated version of the "Peace" Sign...

Dear god, what were in those Milkyways XO?!

Enjoy!

...

...

...

_*knock*_

_*knock*_

_*knock*_

_"Naegi?" Asahina spoke as she knocked on her door. "You in there?" _

_"Yo, chick, open up!" Owada spoke after, knocking the side of his fists against the door._

_*BAM!*_

_*BAM!*_

_*BAM!*_

_*whap*_

_"Ow!" Owada yelped, rubbing his sore shoulder. For someone a full foot shorter than him, Asahina sure knew to how slap someone. _

_"That's no way to greet a lady by the door!" She said with a mild glare._

_"Hey, most of the rooms are soundproof, remember?" Owada reminded. "She wouldn't hear our words anyway, so the only choice is to hope she hears the pounding on the inside."_

_"Not that I usually agree with brute force, but Owada does make a good point." Kirigiri commented. "Just calling on her wouldn't be much." _

_"Especially on a weekend. That's every lady's favorite time to sleep in!" Ikusaba said happily._

_"I thought that only applied to the lady variety though..." Hagakure mumbled from behind, turning his head away as he scratched his nose._

_*PUNT*_

_"Oof-!" Hagakure doubled over clenching his stomach in pain. Ikusaba was more of a lethal weapon than any weapon she held in her hands, especially when it came to the elbows. _

_"I WAS referring to US women variety..." Ikusaba grumbled with the twitch of her brow._

_"I-I s-se-see... M-My misunderstanding..." Hagakure gobbled in pain. _

_Yes, it was truly every busy-working, hard-pounding, study-crazed, students' favorite time of the school year, second only to holidays and breaks- The weekend! The two times a week where students could finally relax, hang out with friends, and focus on their assignments at their own pace. For those who were more of the active variety, they just skipped the homework altogether and hanged out with their friends and family for the weekend. And the really gifted people managed to work their homework through beforehand, giving them the freedom to exhaust the entire weekend as they saw fit, without worry of any future things afterwards. _

_Things were also a little different for the students and staff of Hope's Peak Academy. In the average school, whether it be a elementary school, middle school, or high school, students would usually be living within their own homes during the school year. While there were some special schools out there with on-campus housing and dorms, none of them were as large as Hope's Peak. The students at Hope's Peak Academy had the opportunity to use the campus as they saw fit, or send themselves home to bond with the family. _

_Many students enjoyed this feature of the school. During weekends, there were virtually hundreds of on-campus clubs and groups meeting within the various rooms of the academy. They were allowed to use the gyms, the art studios, anything on campus, and this literally meant anything. They were even allowed to use any of the school's equipment for whatever activities they desired, provided it wouldn't be damaged or they could replace it in any event. They could even go out and explore the city if they wanted, shop at the mall or visit an amusement park, whatever they desired. _

_As part of Hope's Peak's curriculum, they found it essential to provide students with a means to bond and socialize with one another. Bonds were the mark of Hope and the Future for the students of the academy, as well as anyone else within the real world. Bonds were a symbol, a way to connect with other people who were different from one another. Through bonds, people came to understanding, understanding lead to knowledge, and through knowledge, people would know how to obtain evident peace within the world. _

_This is why Hope's Peak pride itself in providing every means available for students to learn the hardships of the real world, and to show them how much something simple as a bond can come to benefit them in real life. Sure, not all bonds came with benefits. Sometimes there were cases where one side benefitted from it while the other earned nothing. In the end though, all that truly mattered was that people were growing closer, and that's how Hope's Peak wanted it to be. _

_And that's how the current gang wanted it to be too. Consisting of Ikusaba, Kirigiri, Owada, Asahina, and Hagakure, the gang all had the grand decision to spend some quality time out in the city today, take the time off their studies and work for a single day. A day out in the city was the average thing to do, and with the temperature outside being a solid 80 degrees with little-to-no humidity, it was the perfect day to be outside right now._

_All they needed now was for their friend, Naegi, to finally awaken and open the door to surprise her. It would've been Naegi's first actual outing with a bunch of friends, as opposed to just hanging around the campus by herself like she used to. Only through the past several months did her friends see her for the kind considerate person she truly was. While they did hang out around the campus once in awhile, Naegi's rarely ever left the campus itself._

_There wasn't any need to for the most part, not even for shopping. The Academy had several fully stocked and accommodated school stores. They had a large consistency of items, ranging from your natural school supplies, clothing, and even entertainment for the masses. After all, what school would there be without some way to entertain and keep the populace happy? There were also on-campus jobs for a few students if they needed to make some quick many, but those were only a temporary 1-week thing, to allow multiple students to gain access to a job-related or money-making chore easily. _

_With smiles on everyone's faces, and a tweaked mix between pain and joy on Hagakure's, everyone watched with anticipation as they finally saw the doorknob twisting to open. _

_"Hey Naegi!" Asahina already greeted excitedly. "Wanna come with us to...the...ci...ty?" Asahina's expression slowly switched to a mix of surprise and confusion, which quickly spread to the remaining students around her. No one was without a small blush on their face, an appropriate pink color for the girls and a bright red color for the boys, especially Hagakure's who could see more from his viewpoint on the ground. Nobody was greeted with the type of greeting brought before them._

_There Naegi stood, in all her dazed-looking glory. She looked like a complete mess! Her long hair was all raggedy with a terrible case of bed head, her eyes were partly bloodshot with a few veins on the side of them, and her eyelids didn't look either half asleep or half awake. They just seemed sort of glazed over with eyelids covering half her pupils. Those were the only features people could deal with without making a complete face. _

_The part tat did catch everyone's attention was...well...everything else. For starters, she wasn't fully dressed, much less ready for the day. She was just wearing one long white shirt which just __**barely**__ covered over her panty line and her cheeks were flushed with a red streak across her face. The fact her panties were barely showing was what truly got to everyone. How was a group supposed to greet someone with a casual face when they were standing half-naked in front of them without a care in the world?!_

_"N-Naegi?" Asahina nearly choked to speak to her._

_"Awwwwhhhnnn..." Naegi covered her mouth as she yawned. It had a cute squeal to it in addition to being exhausted. "I've been waiting 'ever for you." She muttered. _

_"Huh?" Asahina was confused. She jumped a little as Naegi slouched forward, placing both her hands on Asahina's shoulders._

_"I ordered that pizza hours ago!" She whined. "Where were you people, I'm starrrrving..." She slurred with another yawn. Asahina stared at the others questionably. Either Naegi was abducted the fallowing night, probed or experimented on, and then beamed back down to Earth over the course of eight hours, or something was definitely wrong. _

_"Uh Naegi, are you feeling okay?" Ikusaba reached her hand over to Naegi's face. One touch from her skin was enough to make her flinch her hand back in surprise. "She's burning up!" _

_"I'm not burning up nurse, my AC just won't worrrrk!" Naegi whined in response. She was clearly in a delusional state. _

_"Our ACs are all connected to the computer system though, so they should be working." Kirigiri noted. Asahina looked back to Naegi worriedly, touching her shoulders back._

_"C'mon, we need to get you to bed." She stated._

_"Y-Yeah, or least put some pants on..." Owada muttered._

_"Owada!" Ikusaba yelped._

_"What, I'm serious!" He had a hard time keeping the blush on his face from getting any deeper. "At least get her back inside the room before-"_

*****_**TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!***_

_"Aw fuuuuck!" Owada groaned shaking his head with a face palm. There was only one person within the entire school who could make that tweeting noise with a whistle, and their result confirmed it when they faced the direction it came from._

_Kyotaka Ishimaru; the Super High School Level Public Morals Committee Member. He was a student far unlike any other around the Academy, while the same could be said for the other Ultimate-talented students. He was one of the only students who took academic pride to it's fullest, going as far as to enlist in several different political and school clubs, lead three different debate teams at once, and personally appoint himself as the "School Monitor", not just the hallway monitor. He was the pride of the school himself!_

_Not one thing about him was without pride, honor, and rules. He always saluted with honor, spoke loudly and clearly to everyone he met, and never did something outside the school code. He was always formally dressed on the weekends like this, wearing his white clothing with signature badges and emblems displayed all around him. Not a single piece of him was out of place, going as far as to accurately measure the distance and placement of each symbol- it just went to show how much he dedicated himself as the Ultimate Moral Compass. _

_On the weekends, even though hundreds of the students were allowed to use the school's equipment and facilities as they saw fit, he always made sure they were not misusing the equipment in any way. Whatever the students planned on using it for, he always made sure, right down to the punctuation, that their intentions were to abide by the school's code. While they weren't necessarily vandalizing everything, almost no one ever managed to go without violating a single code. It wasn't that they were breaking the rules intentionally, but there were so many different rules and regulations Ishimaru kept coming across that it was almost impossible to use anything without his regard. _

_This was actually just as annoying to the staff as it was to the students. They did appreciate it when he came across someone actually using the equipment improperly and reported it to them, but more than half the time it would be something so miniscule that he was becoming a nuisance. Obviously they wouldn't tell him that to his face, but they did show their irritation from time to time with grunts and groans, commenting how they wouldn't mind it or anything. Unfortunately, this lead to like a ten minute debate each time with him explaining the rules and guidelines to THEM, the adults. _

_It just goes to show how he was the Ultimate Moral Compass in the end of all things. He protested and argued against all indecencies and violations, like the current one he was facing now as he ran up to the group. _

_"Makoto Naegi! You are in violation of Code: 4271/XC134 under paragraph 5!" He stated boldly. The only thing keeping him from looking one-hundred percent like his usual proud self was the fact his eyes were closed while saying this. In all likelihood, he was trying to refrain from seeing a half-naked girl in front of him. "All students must be fully dressed and clothed before exiting their personal quarters unless in the event of an emergency procedure!" _

_"Meh?" Naegi mumbled questionably. "I don't know officer, I don't think I have any quarters on me, but I can check..." She replied in her confused manner. Everyone's eyes widened in more embarrassment as she began actually sliding her hand through the side of her panties, causing it to stretch out as she pulled. "Huh, these pants feel different today." She muttered._

_"N-Na-Naegi!" Asahina squealed, _ _waving her arms frantically to get her to stop. _

_"W-What are you doing?!" Ikusaba stammered, blushing for the oblivious girl before them. "S-Stop it!" _

_"Now, now, let's not rush the scene like this." Ikusaba looked back down to Hagakure who was still doubled over. Her pupils shrank with fury as she could surmise the position he was watching from. "Maybe if we wait awhile, she'll snap herself out of this or-"_

_*STOMP!*_

_*STOMP!*_

_*STOMP!*_

_"OWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOOWOWOW!" Hagakure kept crying out in pain as Ikusaba repeatedly kicked him all around. "IT WAS A JOKE! IT WAS A JOKE!" He cried. _

_""Whatever's going on here, I can tell it's not acceptable in a school environment!" Ishimaru shouted. He couldn't tell what was going on now as his eyes were kept closed, but it was almost as if he could feel the embarrassment radiating off the nearby students, which in turn caused him to blush a little. His eighth sense, which stood for School Environmental Decencies, was going off like a siren in his mind as it told him something was wrong._

_"C-C'mon Naegi," Asahina gently grabbed Naegi's arm as she slid her hand out of the panty she was digging through, "you need bed rest right now!" _

_"Nggghhh..." Naegi groaned as Asahina guided her through the door again. "But my bed's too tired to sleep..." She mumbled in midst confusion. _

_Kirigiri was rather lost for words at the moment. What was supposed to be a normal, peaceful, day for the hardworking students was slowly turning into chaos within the last five minutes alone. Ishimaru was ranting about numerous indecencies despite not looking at them, Hagakure was having the life beaten out of him by Ikusaba on the floor, even though he deserved it from trying to look up at Naegi's area from the floor, and Asahina was guiding Naegi over to the bed on her own. She wished things could have gone more simply to the point where they all just headed out to the city to enjoy and relax for their two days off. _

_"So...What's the plan now?" Owada asked Kirigiri as he scratched his head. "We still going to the city or...?" He wasn't being insensitive and asking if they were ditching Naegi or anything. It was an actual legitimate question he was wondering, seeing how Naegi was stricken with a high fever and how the plan was for all of them to go to the city for the day. Sighing, Kirigiri brushed the hair out of her face turning back to him._

_"You guys can go if you want." She decided. "I'm going to stay behind and see if Naegi's alright."_

_"Well I'm staying too!" Ikusaba said firmly, the tip of her foot rubbing against the moaning-Hagakura's head. "It wouldn't be right for me to leave another student behind!" She glanced over to Ishimaru curiously. "And Ishimaru, you can open your eyes now, she's not here anymore."_

_"Huuuuuff!" Ishiamru let out a gasp of air, apparently holding in his breath just to keep himself focused while his eyes were closed. "Thank you Mukuro Ikusaba! But I would like to know if fellow student Naegi will be alright." He requested looking at Kirigiri. "It would be indecent for a fellow Public Committee Member to leave a student behind while they are physically ill." _

_Kirigiri smiled at this. She did like Ishimaru's personality to some degree. Even though he tended to act brash, shout a lot, and seemed strict about every single detail, he still was a good person at heart. He cared about following procedures and guidelines, but he knew when to take a person's health to concern. _

_"If you're going to help out, then why don't you go get a cool refreshment or something for her?" Kirigiri suggested. "Something that wouldn't make her sick so easily." _

_"Tch, leave that to me." Owada offered with a soft smile. It looked like he decided against going out into the city while a friend was sick, especially if it was a girl and the rest of the group would stay behind. "I know a couple of sodas that are good for ya, even if you got stomach problems." _

_"Fellow student Naegi has no need for such poisonous substance in her current state!" Ishimaru yelled back. "A simple glass with antacid-tablets will suffice enough! She doesn't need such brutish drinks at a time like this!"_

_"Geh! The hell you calling those brutish for you loud ass!" Owada shouted back. "Like she wants some fizzy-thing bubbling around her stomach all day!" _

_"That's exactly what will happen if you give her a carbonated beverage to begin with you stubborn ass!"_

_"Look who's calling whom the stubborn ass you red-eyed Neanderthal! Did anyone ever tell you your more of a public reject than a Public Committee Member in your life?"_

_"I'm surprised someone has dimwitted as you has even excelled at his academics or know such sophisticated words such as Neanderthal. And here I thought you would have just had your brother or sibling punch their dirty fists into an academy such as this!_

_"Oh, you are fucking dead you-!"_

_"SHUT UP!" Ikusaba's shouting was enough to actually scare the two into jumping. Kirigiri was a little surprised by how effective and silent they went upon hearing this. "First off, she has a high fever, so it doesn't really matter whether you get something for her stomach at not at this point! Secondly, she needs her rest, and even if these rooms are soundproof, the last thing she needs is for you two to be shouting like a bunch of monkeys and keeping her awake all day! And third, why the hell are you both shouting about how to help her? If you both want to help her then just do it, don't argue about it!" _

_That was a surprisingly well-detailed response for all the shouting, that would've distracted any other student, from the two shouting teens. Both teens just looked at each other for a moment before turning away with a small blush. They hate to admit it, it was a guy thing with being corrected by a girl, but she was right. They both just wanted to help Naegi, and the main point of the argument was just methods on how to help her. They let their anger get the best of them which caused this whole argument to begin with. _

_"Eh hem...Um, I'd like to properly extend my apologies." Ishimaru stated firmly. "It was wrong of me to start a debate over trivial matters."_

_"Nah, forget it dude." Owada shrugged with an apologetic look in return. "You're just trying to help out a dame, so I can respect that. So look, why don't we just bring her a couple drinks since we don't know what she prefers anyway?" Ishimaru nodded in agreement as he squeezed his fist with pride._

_"Then while we're at it, let's procure some wash cloths so we have something to cool over Naegi's forehead." He added. The two gave a final nod to each other as they ran down the hallway as fast as they could, or at least as fast as Ishimaru claimed was responsible hallway-running speed. Ikusaba smiled a little as she watched the two run off. _

_"It's nice seeing how they can put their differences aside when necessary." Kirigiri commented, practically speaking what was on Ikusaba's mind. _

_"A proper shouting at can work wonders at times, no?" Ikusaba replied with a smile. _

_*BAM*_

_"Ow!" Asahina could be heard yelping from inside. The two turned back towards door upon hearing this._

_"What happened?" Kirigiri asked as she and Ikusaba quickly sped into the room. The state of Naegi's room became more surprising than Naegi's state when they first saw her._

_It was a rather strange state to describe. It was somewhere in the mix of being a complete messily disaster, and well organized and designed, all at the same time. There were hundreds upon hundreds of papers all across the room, some still flying through the air as a result of Asahina's sudden trip. They were scattered between the floors and the numerous tables Naegi seemed to have all around her. _

_The tables had numerous and interesting models and projects that seemed to be displayed and set out so that everything was together perfectly and organized, not including the mess of papers of course. There were different subjects of papers ranging from astronomy, chemical analysis, and so many other subjects Hope's Peak Academy had to offer through it's many classes. There were even multiple study sheets, study guides, flash cards, notes, anything you would need to study for a quiz or a test. _

_From what Kirigiri could identity, over half of these projects and papers seemed to be extra credit assignments, nothing that was absolutely required to be finished. Hope's Peak didn't take too kindly to missing or late assignments. Sure, they could understand if a student was absolutely busy and missed one or two here and there, but there was a strict policy for repeated absences or lateness, whether it came to the students themselves or the assignments. _

_However, not one of these assignments seemed to be anything late or absent. They were all well-crafted and detailed projects and papers that even impressed KIrigiri to a large degree. So many of these things were studies and facts that Kirigiri herself couldn't even comprehend, having yet to even go through these subjects from the classes. If these were all Naegi's, then she didn't understand why she had so many things done at once here. She was in at least half of Naegi's classes, and she definitely knew any of their teachers hadn't given them so many assignments. _

_"Ahhhh!" Naegi screamed panicking. "My papers!" She quickly ran about the room, albeit somewhat wobbly due to her feverish state, trying to collect all the papers that were scattered about the room._

_"W-What..." Ikusaba was just as amazed by the hundreds of papers and assignments all around. Some of the projects were on the floors too, the tables being too cluttered from other projects and papers. "What is all this?"_

_"Ghhh, it's a walking hazard, that's what." Asahina replied with a mild grumble. It was understandable that she was irritated at the moment, seeing how she was rubbing her slightly bruised knee from the sudden fall. "I was too caught off guard from the dozen projects and stuff like you two were and didn't see the papers on the floor." Kirigiri gently plucked one of the papers that floated down in front of her. She couldn't help but eye the paper curiously as she read it's contents._

_"These are rather well-done, though." She commented, gathering another piece from the floor. "Some of this stuff would've taken me days alone just to write and research." _

_"Gimme that!" Naegi yelped, quickly swiping the papers from her hands. "Have to get organized, keep together, check for corrections, fix mistakes!" Naegi continued to ramble on and on as she gathered all the papers scattered around. She shuffled and organized them into separate piles, placing them evenly near other projects from the same subject. _

_Watching all of this before her, Kirigiri's nodded a little to herself as she "Oh'ed" to herself silently. She finally understood what was going on now._

_"I see what's happening here." She stated to the other two girls, who turned to her after hearing this. "She's exhausted." _

_"Huh? What do you mean?" Ikusaba raised her brow scanning the room. "From how she is now after all of this, I'd say she has more than enough energy to spare."_

_"No, I mean she's literally running herself ragged." Kirigiri clarified. "She's been working on these things for who knows how long. She probably hasn't had much sleep since..." Kirigiri paused her chin for a moment. "Say, Naegi?"_

_"Yes officer?" Naegi replied in her delusional state. She only looked at Kirigiri for the moment she said this before going back to gathering the papers. _

_"When was the last time you got any sleep?" Naegi stopped what she was doing as she poked her chin in thought. _

_"What day is it today?" _

_"Saturday the 22nd." Asahina answered._

_"Yeah, about a week before Thursday then." Naegi replied. All three girls looked at her in disbelief. They didn't find it hard to believe that Naegi could stay awake for that long. What stood out to them was how long she's been awake for while working to exhaustion on all these assignments at the same time. It's a miracle she hasn't died by physical exhaustion! _

_"You haven't slept in over a week?!" Ikusaba stammered. Naegi yawned while rubbing her eyes._

_"No Sargent, that's not true..." Naegi groaned out in a whine-like tone. "I got at least..." She stared at her fingers for awhile, apparently trying to count out the numbers to herself. "How many fingers makes seven again?" _

_There was nothing but utter silence as the three girls l looked at one another. They couldn't believe how exhausted Naegi brought herself to be, but were even more ashamed with the fact none of them noticed how severe it was until now. They knew Naegi was getting tired as of late. They thought she was just doing late night studying and such to help prepare for the tests she had on a daily basis. But now they're discovering she hasn't gotten any practical sleep in over the past seven days, and only discovered this fact now? _

_They felt ashamed! _

_Naegi was their dear friend who they all cared about deeply. For them to go this long without realizing Naegi had been stressing out her own body like this was completely inexcusable to them! How could they not feel guilty? To be honest, there were numerous signs of Naegi's recent exhaustion that she displayed over the last few days alone that should've tipped them off. From sleeping in class to nodding off at the lunch table, they should've realized some aspect to her exhaustion at this point. _

_And her exhaustion was completely justified too. She was working her butt off for the past several weeks after learning of the yearly Exams that are given to the students at the end of each school year. No matter how hard she's worked, her friends insisted that she was stressing out about nothing up till this now. They had no idea how truly serious Naegi took this accusation to heart though. _

_She was an average student, there were no question about that. Within a prestigious school like this, however, average was unacceptable. Every student needed to have their A-game in all subjects just to get an average B within these infamous halls. With her grades being on a C-average group though, she's been a little under behind on her GPA. In order for her to pass this year's Exams and prevent getting kicked out, she not only needed to increase her GPA of ALL her current classes, however slim, she also needed to pass the Exam with a B+ or higher. _

_It was the only way to save herself!_

_Frowning, mostly due to how oblivious she's been till now, Kirigiri calmly walked over to the panicking girl's side._

_"Naegi..." She spoke in a soft tone. Naegi continued to hastily gather all the papers around the two of them._

_"Not now, Officer!" Naegi said in panic. "I have to get the papers gathered up-"_

_"Naegi-" Kirigiri gently reached over to her._

_"Get all the projects and reports rechecked before handing in-"_

_"Naegi-_

_"Hurry up ask the teachers about more Extra Credit assignments and-!"_

_"NAEGI!" Kirigiri yelled loudly as she grabbed Naegi's shoulders, having her facing Kirigiri herself directly. This sudden grab appeared to snap Naegi out of her trance-like state, causing her to drop the dozens of papers she's been collecting for the last several minutes. Seeing the papers drop before her, Naegi looked down as she tried to bend over again._

_"B-But... I have to-"_

_"No." Kirigiri shook her again, but with a gentle smile. "It's okay, it's done now. Don't worry about it." It was hard to say how Naegi was feeling about this. She barely had an understanding of who she was talking to at the time, but each word coming from Kirigiri's mouth seemed to make her eyes droop more and more. _

_"B...But the...papers..." Naegi yawned sleepily, her body becoming sluggish. _

_"It's okay Naegi, honest!" Asahina smiled walking over. _

_"We'll get the papers and stuff put back together." Ikusaba assured, joining in the conversation. "Just focus on getting some sleep."_

_"S...sleeeep...?" Naegi slurred. Her body was beginning to wobble in place as it started feeling heavier to her._

_"Yes, sleep." Kirigiri brushed some of Naegi's hair out of her eyes. "We'll get this stuff cleaned up, you focus on getting some sleep."_

_"Sleeee...okkhhhhhhhhnnnnghhhhh..." ANd just like that, Naegi was out like a light. _

_"Ah-! Kirigiri was caught a little by surprise, quickly holding onto Naegi before she dropped to the ground. Getting a good grip on her, she sighed in relief as she smiled back to the other smiling girls. Together, the three of them carefully carried Naegi over to the bed, helping tuck in the feverish girl comfortably. Ikusaba sat at Naegi's side, happy that her friend was finally okay, but frowning a little as she felt the top of Naegi's forehead. _

_"She's really been driving herself exhausted." Ikusaba commented sadly. Asahina looked around the room at the various projects curiously as she helped gather the papers scattered all over. _

_"I'll say." She agreed. "I mean look at all these projects! Do we even have half of these, because I'm a little nervous if I forgot them..." Kirigiri walked over to one of the projects which looked related to astronomy. It was an easy assumption seeing how it was a modeled display of the Solar System, quite accurate at that. _

_"I don't think they are, or at least not all of them." Kirigiri looked at all the notes and details that came with each part of the Astronomy project. "I think most of these are the extra credit assignments we've had over the past year." _

_"She's been working on the extra credit assignments from the whole year?!" Ikusaba blinked in amazement. Naegi truly seemed dedicated passing this year's Exam._

_"That and then some." Kirigiri examined some of the reports and papers scattered around the desk. "All these papers and reports...Based on her past hand-ins, she must've worked endlessly to perfect all these papers."_

_"Well she did need to improve her overall grade, not just one class." Ikusaba reminded. "I wish I knew she was struggling this much, though. I feel bad that she's been working herself so hard like this. I feel kind of guilty not realizing how hard she's been pushing herself."_

_"So do I." Asahina agreed with a frown. Kirigiri joined in on the sorrowful frown that filled all their expressions._

_It was a saddening feeling to behold, knowing how while they've all been easy-going and managed to get their work perfected with ease, Naegi's been struggling to keep ahead of herself and her grades. She's gone so far as to spend a week without slumber in the hopes of working on various projects that will improve her grade. And none of her friends had bothered to pay attention to her distress, passing it off as a simple once-in-a-while thing, or some typical stress just from the moment. _

_They all had to help her, and Kirigiri knew this truthfully. _

_"We need to have a meeting."_

_..._

_..._

_..._

"What's going on?" Naegi asked as she, Ikusaba, and Kirigiri rushed down the halls of the first floor.

The students continued to feel smaller and smaller with each person missing from their group. All that was remaining at this point were six females, and two males. What started out as a thriving 15-student class slowly shriveled down to half that amount within the past several weeks. Maizono, Kuwata, Fujisaki, Togami, Hagakure, Ishimaru, and Fukawa. There was one additional member that left them during this time, but none of them actually knew the truth, nor Ikusaba's secret related to the lost friend.

All of this, all the struggling, tears, anger, was brought on by one person- the Headmaster, also known as the Puppet Master. He was a conniving individual who singlehandedly orchestrated the events presented thus far. He somehow brought several different students throughout the world and turned them into cold-blooded murderers. While their murders may be somewhat justifiable, it didn't prevent them from being murderers all the same.

Yet, none of them were at true fault with this. This all happened because of the Headmaster's rule, locking the students within the confines of this murderous building where only those who get away with murder were allowed to leave. Whenever a murder was committed, they would hold a Class Trial to determine who the culprit was. If they succeeded, only the Culprit alone would be punished. If not, the culprit would be allowed to leave, and everyone around them would be punished in their steed.

It was both cruel and twisted in every sense of the word.

That's how it's been up to this point, and that's how it continued to be. Before each murder a motive was presented to each of them. Perhaps one of the reasons these murders kept occurring was because no one thought said motive would possibly bring a murder about. They seemed like simple but ignorable things. It started out with simple videos from families and loved ones. Then it turned into a game which had to do with one's past coming back to haunt them. Afterwards, it came to a strange game called "2 lies and a truth", which brought out people's worries and urge to hope that the lie would be the truth. And this recent motive was possibly the worst.

It was a direct motive which targeted Oogami herself. She worked with the puppet master up to this point, keeping tabs on everyone and detailing all information about the students to Monokuma directly. Obviously this wasn't of her free will either. She had her Dojo being held hostage, the occupants and residents of it being held prisoner, and ready to kill on a moments notice. As long as she did what he asked, they would be fine.

Her patience were not finite though. After the third tragedy experienced from the trial, Oogami had decided she had had enough. It didn't matter to her any longer what would happen to the hostages, at least to a degree where she had to choose between her Dojo and her friends. She had seen enough struggling and sadness for one lifetime, and decided to fight back. Hence forth, she personally declared war against the puppet master, breaking off all ties.

Surprisingly or not, most likely not, the puppet master didn't take this lightly. He decided the first thing to do was to expose her secret to the following students. Ideally, if several students among the group were replaced, there was a fair chance some argument would've broken out amongst the students. With everyone yelling and stressing over one another, it would have been only a matter of time before another murder occurred.

Thankfully enough, they wouldn't have that problem around here. Everyone was fed up with the endless murders that had gone on up to this point, tired of the madness it had wrought. With everyone's conviction to heart, they made their choice; none of them held a single grudge against Sakura for what she did, and forgave her with all their heart. It was a bright and shining moment for the group, which only lasted over the night.

Come the following morning, Monokuma's true motive had been brought to light. Having foreseen the predicament he met the previous day, he had already devised a secondary plan in the aftermath. Waking up that morning, save for their undergarments and shorts, everyone had discovered they were near-naked. All other clothing, save for additional undergarments, were completely taken away. There were no shirts, no pants, not even any blankets or towels around! It seemed ridiculous at first, but it turned out to be a far worse scheme than what was first presented to them.

The cold. The chill that ran throughout the air that was brought upon waking up hit them like a brick, so to speak. It wasn't so extreme immediately in the morning, but the chill was the least of their concerns. It was getting colder while the day wore on. What started at about sixty degrees upon waking up, slowly dwindled down to a near three degrees by the time the students, namely Ikusaba, Kirigiri, and Naegi, fell asleep.

To make matters worse, every several hours, the sprinkler system would "accidentally" go off. The mixed humidity from the water, in addition to the natural cold the soaking wetness brought with touching the students, is what really shook everyone's center. They had no means to prevent this from happening, save for a few ideas and suggestions here and there, but nothing permanent.

As if that wasn't the worst of it, none of the students could afford to sleep either. With the oncoming cold, their body temperatures would have fallen to a fatal degree to the point of death. The only reason the three girls themselves fell asleep was due to a sleep dart that struck Naegi half an hour before hand. Out of concern for her life, Kirigiri, in a _professional_ manner, shared her body's heat with her already cold body. After finding the two like this, Ikusaba took it upon herself to join in, trying to keep Naegi as warm as possible out of fear and worry. Neither of them expected it, but lying on their sides in Kirigiri's soaking bed, in thanks to the sprinklers, they slowly nodded off to slumber.

It should've ended with death, but fate surprised them later on. Imagine their surprise when any of the three awoke the very next day, the warmth of the heated AC temperature rushing through their bodies, and their clothes returned to them. At first, it was a joyous moment for the trio, relieved to have their lives returned to normal once more, at least by this school's standards. Sadly, the revelation reminded them of the fact there was only one way their lives would return to normal; someone had been murdered.

After racing down the halls as the announcement said, they all gathered outside a single doorway. It wasn't like any of the three expected though. With the idea that someone was murdered, there was currently Asahina, Owada, Naegi, Ikusaba, Kirigiri, and Yamada. Imagine everyone's surprise though when Oogami of all people were present! The rules stated that only Oogami could be murdered next, so why was she outside the doorway with the other three.

"O-Oogami?" Naegi blinked surprised. She was both confused and happy to see her unexpected friend with them at the end of all things.

Ikusaba and Kirigiri, however, were a little more concerned about the ordeal. Something was definitely wrong here, and Kirigiri had a little more suspicion of Ikusaba's hand in all this. Just before Monokuma added about the meeting place, Ikusaba accidentally blurted out how she expected a body somewhere. While she didn't give the specifics before Monokuma's interruption, it was enough to throw on a hefty amount of suspicion to her.

And Ikusaba knew this full well. She couldn't look at the violet girl in the slightest.

Oogami nodded back to Naegi with a simple smile. "It's nice to see you three as well."

"W-What the-?" Iksuaba was lost for words at that moment. Oogami peered her gaze over to her briefly, understanding her confusion.

Oogami shouldn't have been alive at all by this point. Ikusaba had discovered for herself what Oogami planned on doing; she was going to kill herself, through whatever means possible, in order stop the Puppet Master's scheme, and to ensure the survival of the remaining students. It was a noteworthy self-sacrifice scheme she had planned out, but that appeared to be dashed as of this moment when she appeared before all of them. Something was definitely off about this feeling Ikusaba had, yet she couldn't determine what was going on.

Not that anyone else had a better understanding, of course. The only thing they did have at that moment were their clothes back, with a nice comfy warmth which they remembered and cherished more than ever.

"This is amazing!" Naegi cheered with excitement. "You didn't have to die after al!"

"Tch..." Owada grunted to himself as he turned his head away, scratching his head. "I think you're missing the bigger issue here, dude." He mumbled.

"Hu-..." Naegi was confused for but an instant before realizing what it meant. There was only one other explanation for the reason they were all still alive. The silence was eerie and unsettling as the group looked towards Celes' door. With her being the only one absent from the present group, there was only one thing it could mean. "Y-You...You don't mean..."

The others faced the door themselves. It was an unsettling feeling, but they knew deep down what it had to mean. Naegi briefly looked back to the students, seeing the same knowing gaze on their expressions like hers. They all had the same exact feeling, and they all dreaded what was behind this door. It could only be the remains of one of their friends, but after what the past several murders had been like, none of them were looking forward to the end result.

Gulping silently to herself, Naegi took a stand. With no one else seeming to near it, she slowly reached for the door's handle. Hesitating to herself, she slowly turned the knob, pushing the door open with great fear. They were all ready to face the eventuality of what was behind the door.

And at the same time, they weren't.

...

...

_It wasn't anything that would have surprised them by this point. A murder was a murder, whether accidental, self-defense, or suicide. After the past several murders that have taken place, even the ones involving Punishments from the Class Trials, you'd think they'd be used to all this death and killing. It didn't mean they had to be okay with it or anything, just used to it where they weren't surprised to see a dead body anymore._

_But they weren't. No matter what the cause or the circumstances, they could never get used to the idea of seeing a dead body. Whether formed in a peaceful manner or in a grizzly shape of terror, the sight of a dead body would forever send chills down the spines of the surviving students. Just like the way Celes' did after gazing upon it. It didn't matter what the circumstances were or how it was presented, it was still unsettling._

_There, within her own bedroom, Celes' body stood straight in an orderly manner. It kind of symbolized the way she preformed professionally about things, but it still wasn't easy to watch either. From several feet above a chair she stood, wearing the same pillow-casing-like shirt she handmade earlier the other day. Wrapped around her neck was the most likely cause of her death- A noose._

_A single-knotted roped which dangled from the light fixture connected to the ceiling. It was surprising the fixtures could support anyone's weight, even someone as light as Celes. It would be the only possible reason explaining how she hung herself without issues. Dangling from the fixture, her eyes still widened with a blank expression across her face. There were some bloodshot veins around her pupils, supporting the fact she either lost her oxygen upon death, or her neck broke instantaneously. _

_But no one cared about the details. All they cared about was the sight. _

_The sight of another one of their beloved friends, dead. _

...

...

...

"C-Celes!" Naegi yelped in fear. The students rushed to her side, Owada and Oogami quickly trying to get her down due to being the two tallest at the time. They already knew it was too late, but it didn't hurt to try. Naegi managed to hold back the tears despite squeezing her fist. Whether through sheer will or determination, she had definitely become stronger. Yet it didn't seem to do anything for the recently-departed friend.

With the body lowered from it's hanging position, Owada quickly undid the rope and checked for a pulse. With a scowl, he shook his head regretfully. "No good." He mumbled. Asahina covered her mouth from pure shock.

"No...why Celes...?" There was both sadness and despair in her voice. It was the most natural reaction to have in this situation, while at the same time, one no one wanted to experience for themselves. With all the evidence already presented around them, enough was already said to put he culprit through a vote.

"Nooooooooooooooooo!" A waterfall of tears was streaming from Yamada's eyes. "Why my sweet, golden, Celestia Ludenberg?! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" There was more awkwardness from the scene than sadness when it came from someone like him.

For a brief moment, Naegi had a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Quick, give her CPR!" She said quickly to Iikusaba. Ikusaba looked back at her with a slight blush and confused expression.

"W-What?"

"It's like what you did with me!" Naegi reminded. "Maybe you can revive her if you do it for a few minutes!"

She didn't seem to have a good grasp on the logistic of when to preform CPR, not that they could blame her. After all, she was the one who had the CPR preformed on, not the one who witnessed it happening, so she wouldn't know the trivial bits about it like how it's only good after a short while.

At the same time, Ikusaba couldn't help but look away with a short blush on her face, scratching her cheek. She remembered the small moment in her life which she finally got to kiss Naegi, but it was more of a life-or-death situation, so it didn't really count.

On top of that, Kirigiri's mild glare at her only increased the stress and embarrassment she felt at that moment. She knew Kirigiri was a little irritated by that, calling it her first kiss. It was the perfect opportunity for her to preform said CPR, yet Ikusaba beat her to it.

Still, None of that mattered at the moment though.

"U-Umm...N-Naegi?" Ikusaba mumbled, still slightly embarrassed. "T-That only works after a short while after expiring." She explained as she looked to the corpse on the floor. "On top of that, if she crushed her windpipe that flows oxygen through her throat, it would be useless anyway."

"Oh." Naegi frowned as she lowered her head depressingly. It was at least a nice thought, if there was any ounce of hope bringing their friend back.

"It wouldn't matter in this case anyway." Oogami added, catching her attention. "Don't forget Monokuma's previous rule from the last trial. We can't revive the dead anymore."

"Oh yeah..."

Owada checked his hand over Celes' throat again. "Besides, it wouldn't work even if the rule wasn't there. The body's still cold, so it would've been hours ago."

"You sure that's not just from the cold the other night?" Asahina asked. "I mean, if she committed suicide last night, it would make sense if she was still cold."

"Wait a minute, we don't know anything yet!" Ikusaba retorted.

"What do you mean?" Naegi questioned. "It looks like a suicide to me..."

"Not that, I mean the rules for the last motive." Ikusaba looked back at Oogami with mixed feelings in her heart. There was confusion, sorrow, so many things that should rile up her blissful despair, and yet it only brought a strange form of pain. Squeezing her fist, trying to keep her mind focused, she faced Oogami determined. "Did you guys already forget the rule? The last murder could only happen to Sakura unless it was self-defense! So if she's alive-"

"How dare you accuse her like that" Asahina interrupted angrily. Oogami looked to her as she spoke. "Sakura already had a plan to get us out of here! She wouldn't do anything so despicable like this!"

"Then how do you explain-?!" Ikusaba tried arguing back.

"Ehhh wait a minute, do you guys even know about the rule changes?" Owada asked cutting in. Naegi, Kirigiri, and Ikusaba looked to him in confusion.

"Rule changes?" Kirigiri asked questionably, rubbing her chin. Naegi already took the lead and pulled out her e-Handbook, skimming through the different rules to see what changed.

"Let's see...No reviving...Sakura's the target...Last min- Huh?" Naegi re-read the recently updated rule of the e-Handbook. "When was this made?" Ikusaba and Kirigiri glanced over her shoulder to see what the fuss was about.

**_Rule #10: The previous rule is considered Null and Void. Kill to your heart's content!_**

"It was added in during the evening last night." Oogami replied.

"Monokuma just suddenly went on with the new rule, but..." Asahina frowned a little as she lowered her head. "I didn't think anyone would really go through with it..."

"What's not to believe?" Monokuma asked casually, dropping from the ceiling and landing on Celes' bed. There were irritated and hateful looks in everybody's eyes who gazed at him, including Ikusaba's. "You guys kept going on and on about friendship this and not killing her that, it was irritating me. I actually thought you'd go ahead and die before anyone went through with it!" He lowered his head with a sigh. "I can't have myself go through with breaking a rule here. What kind of headmaster would I be if I ended up killing one of you lot from the cold, huh?"

"You wouldn't be much worse than what you are now." Owada joked rolling his eyes.

"Aww, thanks buddy!"

"That's not a good thing!" Owada shouted irritated.

"Either way, with the results being what they were, I had to do something." He swooned with a bit of excitement as he grinned. "I mean, SOMEONE had to save poor little Naegi, what with falling asleep and all that."

Naegi grew a mixed expression of pain and sadness. Was she to blame herself for all of this? Was it her fault that Celes ended like this? The alternative wouldn't have been any better, seeing how Oogami would have died in her place possibly, but it still made her feel directly responsible with the way Monokuma worded it. Seeing her regretful expression, Kirigiri glared outraged at Monokuma.

"Hey, it's not Naegi's fault she fell asleep!" She shouted. "She was tranquilized or something last night! Something shot her!" Monokuma smiled innocently as he tapped his chin.

"Oh? Then would I be able to find this _something_ that put Naegi to sleep last night if I checked your room?" Kirigiri's glare tightened as she grit her teeth. Of course Monokuma would've gotten rid of any evidence showing that he tampered with Naegi's sleep.

"Fuck the evidence, man!" Owada shouted squeezing his fist. "There's no way I'd take your word over hers, even if you had evidence you didn't!"

"I concur!" Yamada agreed, pushing up his glasses. "With any of the girls dressed as they were, I'd find it near impossible for any of them to get a good night's sleep."

Naegi only continued to lower her head more. It didn't matter whether they were trying to support her or show their belief in her. The fact of the matter was that she fell asleep, and trickery or not someone died because of it, even if it would've happened regardless of reason.

"Huff, what's a world turning into when your own students don't trust a sweet and cuddly Headmaster these days?" Monokuma whined. "Oh well. Onward to business! You guys have a half hour before the next trial, so use your time wisely! Upupupu, and for Pete sake, take a shower or something, you guys reek!" He chuckled as he descended into the floorboards once again. Asahina was the only one who shifted her eyes away with a small blush. It wasn't like anyone else had bathed the day beforehand, but it did bother her more than most.

No one could stand this anymore. Another murder? Or was it suicide? Who cared at this point. It was tiring to the students. They've been through this more than enough times to last a life time by this point. If people had any idea of what was going on here, the students could only hope that they would be here soon. That was all they had at this point- Hope.

That and an impending trial that would determine life and death in a few minutes. If the most recent rule wasn't accounted for, it would have been a simple and cut case. Either Oogami would have murdered her in self-defense, or Celes committed suicide. Whether it was due to the un-comfortableness of the dire cold, or the chance she sacrificed herself for them, it didn't matter. They had lost a friend amongst their group, and there was a chance they would lose another one by the end of their trial.

"So...Guess we have to look for clues again." Owada said scratching his head. From the "used-to-ness" of the scenario, it felt a little awkward saying that.

"Do you think we should split up into groups?" Ikusaba wondered.

"Why would we do that? The crime happened here."

"I know that, but considering the last place the three of s saw any of you was near the Rec. Room, it might help to investigate the area too." She explained.

"I agree with Ikusaba on this." Oogami said crossing her arms. "Until we know for sure whether this was a murder or a suicide, we should investigate this like an actual murder."

"In that case, I would like to split up into teams of three." Kirigiri said with a small smile.

"Why teams of three? We only have two rooms to investigate, don't we?" Naegi did have a point. If they were just focusing on the crime scenes, the Rec. Room and Celes' room were the only places affected by the crime. Kirigiri rubbed her chin as she thought to herself briefly.

"There's something I'd like to investigate which I need your help with, Naegi." Kirgiri replied. Ikusaba blinked at this. "In the meantime, Ikusaba, Yamada, and Oogami, you head back up to the Rec. Room and see what you can find. Owada, Asahina, you see what you can find around here, ok?"

The order was well-designed and planned. Two of the strongest people around would investigate with Yamada in the Rec. Room up on the third floor, where Kirigiri was certain the crime took place. In addition, with Asahina and Owada checking this room, it was assured that another murder wouldn't occur. As always, Owada's honor would keep him from hurting a woman.

The groups were assigned easily, but one of the students had an argument to make about it. It was pretty easy to guess who that was.

"W-Wait, just you two?" She asked with a hint of worry. "Why don't I go along too? We can cover more ground together!" She said with a innocent smile. While her acting skills did need some brushing up, she did at least manage to convince everyone else of he sincerity.

Except Kirigiri.

"I appreciate the thought, but I need to keep discretion in this case." Kirigiri replied, looking at her back in the eyes.

Inside, Ikusaba knew she had a knowing smile behind her eyes. She couldn't argue in front of everyone like this, especially in front of Naegi, while their time was short. They only had half an hour to investigate at this point, and Ikusaba did at least want to pass the trial, if only for Naegi's sake. She would have to deal with Kirigiri after. For the time being, she had her own things to investigate.

"I... I see." Ikusaba winced mentally.

"So, if no one has any other issues, shall we get going?" Kirigiri suggested to Naegi, smiling. Naegi nodded back with smile, but only minor compared to Kirigiri's. She still felt the guilt weighing down on her from the sleep last night. It still felt like she was to blame for what happened to Celes', no matter what else anyone said to her.

"Alright," Naegi nodded before looking at the others again, "everyone be careful, ok? If there is a killer, they might try to mess up the crime scene." She warned. The others gave her a confirming nod before she took off. Waiting several seconds after Kirigiri and Naegi left, Owada let out a groan, scratching the back of his head roughly.

"I hope the chick doesn't take this stuff too personal." He commented. "Naegi has to know this wasn't her fault."

"I'm sure she knows it!" Asahina said enthusiastically. "She can't blame herself for this."

"Yes, she can." Ikusaba muttered softly to herself, catching the rest of the group's attention. She smiled to herself as she squeezed her hand over her knuckle. "Because she's too nice. That's her one flaw..."

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A/N: GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHH! I apologize deeply for this really crappy/short update X/ Our only choice is to blame Explosive on this one since I blamed Westerner last time X/ Guuuuuuuuh! Been really sick lately, need rest X/ + not sure how future updates will go. Recently got Commissioned for New Yorker pics (getting $20 a pic ^^!) and have to do em during the week. Not sure if it's the start of something, but updates will be slow as of late X/ hopefully this is just a phase and all and i'll be posting first thing tomorrow again ^^ (I NEED REVS THOUGH X_X)

Also on that note, someone's birthday is coming up :P guess who it iiiiiis...huh...well?...Go on, I can wait...any day nooooooow...waiting...OH SCREW YOU GUYS X(!

It's mine ^^ Yesiree! My birthday is on the 26th of November :P! I'll be turning 22 this year ^^ I'm already at the drinking age, and I'm one age away from getting myself drunk on a Harley and then dying in a motorcycle incident...*sigh* every American's dream ^^...

Anyway, as a special bonus (to me), I'm having a contest ^^ To anyone who can post a "fanfic" based off my fanfic as a little "side story" and make the best one, either on my birthday or after, shall be crowned CHAMPION!...And, even though there's a hiatus on my bonus eps, I'll do a grand spectacular bonus ep for the lucky duck who manages to get one done ^^

Rules are simple: Can have access to any number of floors within the school, and any number of the 16 students (including junko and ikusaba) within it. There's no limit on theme or anything, and can consist of anything. The "prize/victor" will go to whoever writes an inspiring work of art ^^. Will say in advance, looking for one-shot/single chapter fanfics, but will allow multi-chp fics as well. However, if this is the case, it HAS TO BE DONE before the end of my birthday.

Just thought I'd bring this up. Not forced to, it's mostly for fun ^^ Moving on, tomorrow we'll see what I can do about getting the next chp update faster. Fortunately, when it comes to those trial bits, they're always my favorite, so it might come faster ^^ But again, not because I don't want to or anything, it might not X/ with the new Yorker pic i have to do, might end up spending the day to do that first. C'mon, you can't blame me X/ I barely have $100 to last me till the end of the semester (and that's WITH $20 of the dollars i got from the first pic) so I need the next $60 asap X/...unless someone's willing to start payin' me $5 a chp ^^ (i should've started that on Da XP!)

Either way, hope you all enjoyed this saddening short chp X/ again, sorry or whatever, but I had a rough night here X/

*Update as of 9:17 This morning*

-….Huh…apparently, I REALLY don't know how long/short I make my chps, cause despite me feeling like this was short, apparently it still read over 10k words XP…..nevermiiiiind XP


	30. When Worse gets Worse- Trial 4 Part 1

A/N: For those of you who felt like I shouldn't have killed off Celes, lemme ask you: WHY DO YOU LIKE HER?! Lol, seriously, she's a B****! (anyone else find it weird i can't bring myself to cuss in the A/N's, yet i have no problem with it during the fanfic itself XP?). I mean look, she had her nice moment and all that at the end of the first trial, trying to help "cheer up"(?) or inspire the idea that Leon intentionally murdered Maizono to draw more hate towards him for Naegi's sake- I give her props for that. And I could even go without minding so much about how she's been rather erratic and cruel towards Yamada at times, like the infamous "Tea Scene" XP.

But what REALLY ticks me off about her was the end of the 3rd trial. I could handle her killing off 2 people, even though I felt sad about Ishimaru and all after what he's gone through. The part tat icks me off though, was her explanation about how she convinced Yamada to go through with murdering Ish. Seriously: WTF?! She freaking implies Ish raped her or whatever to get Yamada on her side?! BS!

Even I probably would've been driven to murder after that! Granted, I myself am a bit squeamish to violence (Not in media or whatnot, just bringing myself to it XP) and even I could admit i MIGHT commit murder after what he did to protect her. Granted, agin, I prob would've just beaten him or something, and not go through with murder, but you get my point XP To emphasize my point, watch NicoB's Danganronpa Playthrough (He's a seriously awesome/hilarious Let's Play-er ^^- ep titled FIRETRUCK TO THE FACE ep 18)

Anyway, without further ado, onto the next Flashback/Past Sequence, and coming up to the trial ^^!

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_"Ngh..." Naegi' moaned as she winced sorely. Her vision was slightly blurred as she opened her eyes, trying to make heads and tails of her surroundings. Her forehead felt both cold and hot at the same time, but she couldn't understand why. The water from the wetness dripped down her face over her eyes, hazing up her vision more. _

_Her brows continued to twitch reflexively from the cold, dripping, touch. She tried making note of her surroundings. Her head was lying on something soft, and she had something covering her, so it was a good theory to say that she was in bed. _

_Next up, from the somewhat blinding light over her head, she guessed she was staring at a ceiling. From what little she could tell from her recent morning, she thought her friends might have came over earlier, and then something happened. _

_"Guess I fell asleep again..." She muttered softly to herself. And if that was the case, then it was safe to say she was still in her own room!_

_She was on a roll! _

_"Well, good morning there sleepyhead." A cheerful voice greeted Naegi as she awoke. She could feel their weight pressing down on her bed. Seeing the blurry figure appearing next to her, it was a safe assumption that they were on her bed. "Nice to see you awake finally." She said reaching over to Naegi's face. _

_Naegi winced again as they removed something from her head, causing the water soaked into it to drip over her face. From this, Naegi knew it had to either be a washcloth or a sponge of some sort, but washcloth seemed more accurate as she watched them twist it over the edge of the bed, draining the water from it. Her vision was still blurry somewhat, and it was hard to focus her view without her head hurting anymore, but she figured who it must have been. _

_"Iku... Ikusaba?" Naegi muttered curiously. Ikusaba smiled down at her as she placed the back of her hand against Naegi's still-rosy cheeks. _

_"Hmm, still pretty hot." She commented._

_"Huh?" Naegi hadn't a clue about what she meant. How could she?_

_Earlier on that day, she had completely mistaken all of her friends as everyday people on the job. She mistook Kirigiri as a cop or a detective, rightly mistook Ikusaba as a soldier, although her profession was associated with it, and so on. She had no idea beforehand that she was running a verily high and dangerous fever earlier that morning when her friends came to hang out with her in the city. _

_Because of her current state, it had completely dashed Kirigiri's and the rest of the gang's plan to hang out in the city. They didn't blame her for this of course._

_After investigating around the crowded room, Kirigiri discovered the cause of Naegi's recent fever- she was literally running herself to the point of exhaustion. From projects, extra credit assignments, and studies for various tests and quizzes, Naegi had been working herself tirelessly for the last several weeks to improve her overall grades. She needed to, and the others felt partly to blame for not noticing her exhaustion. _

_Within the next several weeks, the nightmare that would make or break Naegi's grade, as well as several hundred other students, would be held. The Exams placed at the end of the year for all students to take, which would determine how far in society you would be placed, or how low you would be lucky enough to come out on. _

_With the Exam covering up to a full 60% of every student's entire grade, they had the power to determine anyone's future. The Academy was a prestigious school, one that held quality over quantity on any day. They needed to for the sake of their school's image. Being a school that absolutely meant "Success at Hope's Peak guaranteed success for life", it was a necessity to maintain a perfect image. _

_Of course, it wasn't completely unwholesome. The idea was that nearly any student within this school would be eligible to pass and make it through the year. With each of the students having a superb talent that differentiated them from everyone else in society, there was little to no fear that just about anyone would pass this Exam_

_Except for poor, average, Naegi. Being average, it wasn't a bad thing or anything, but within this school, you had to be far beyond average. You needed to push yourself past it's limits and then more just to pass a year within this school. Unfortunately for Naegi, she learned that fact a little too late. After receiving numerous poor scores from past tests and projects she only then learned how far she would have to push herself._

_At first, that was just fine. Projects and tests were a little hard to pull through, but she still made it through all right. The problem came in when the Principal, Kirigiri's own father, called Naegi over to his office for a brief meeting. She wasn't in trouble or anything, in fact trouble just came to her if anything. The problem she did have upon discovering, was that in order to pass this upcoming Exam, not only did she have to increase all her overall grades, but she needed a B+ or better to pass school for this year._

_Thus, for the last several weeks, Naegi has been working endlessly on improving just about everything. Through sleepless nights and sheer determination, she had been working tirelessly to keep herself from failing the school year, where she would then be kicked out for good. _

_Through all of this, she ended up turning herself into a nervous wreck, and now a tiring feverish one too. With a severe temperature of 100.9, and that was only after the recent most checkup, she would be bedridden for quite some time, maybe even a full day or two. How else would it explain the pinkish-red rosy cheeks Naegi found herself with upon waking up? And whether through sweat or the water splashed across from the wash cloth, it would be some time before Naegi regained her strength. _

_"Here we go, a nice cool fresh one." Ikusaba said as she applied another cloth atop Naegi's forehead. Like before, Naegi winced slightly from the feeling of the cold water around her eyes. _

_"T-Thank you." Naegi muttered weakly. Ikusaba gave her a soft smile._

_"You had worried for a minute there you know." She brushed some of the hair in Naegi's face carefully out of her eyes. "We got when we found you with a fever this morning. We had an entire morning planned to hang out in the city with you, and you turned out to be sick."_

_"I'm... I'm sorry..." Naegi apologized with a frown. Ikusaba just smiled again as she stroke Naegi's forehead. _

_"Hey, I didn't mean it like that or anything. We're actually glad we found out before things got really serious for you." _

_"W-We?" Naegi leaned up just ever so slightly, scanning the room. While she didn't see anyone else in the room, she did see her room was a little bit cleaner than she had it awhile ago. The numerous papers she had scattered around the room were all piled up in separate piles atop her in-room desk, most likely arranged by subject or some other category. In fact, just about all the papers were properly stacked on the table, save for a few pages around the large-scale projects she had on the floor. _

_She slowly slid herself back under the covers as she felt Ikusaba lightly press against her shoulder. "You should take it easy, you're still running a fever."_

_"Okay..." Naegi closed her eyes peacefully, still maintaining the same frown from earlier. "I'm sorry I held you guys back from having fun for the day."_

_Ikusaba could only give her a sweet. She couldn't believe how sincere and kind Naegi was being. To care for the wellbeing of others while she herself was ill, it showed how kind and gentle her heart was. _

_"You don't have anything to apologize for, Naegi." Ikusaba insisted._

_She took a small break to take the glass of water that was resting on Naegi's nightstand on the left of her bed. Gently placing her right hand under Naegi's neck, she slowly leaned her up as she poured the water into Naegi's dry mouth. She was at least well enough to drink something by the looks of it. Knowing Naegi, she figured she hadn't had anything to eat or drink since yesterday, and that's if the fever wasn't running through her by that point yet. _

_It actually felt a little refreshing to her to hear Naegi sigh in relief from swallowing the contents. Her voice instantly sounded a little bit fresher from it's raspy tone She doubt Naegi would be able to tell if she herself was speaking so raspy, given how she was feverish enough to be delusional earlier._

_"Huff, that tasted great." Naegi finally had a small smile on her expression. It didn't matter to Ikusaba about how minor it looked, she could tell she was a little more relieved than before._

_"It was just water," Ikusaba stated as she leaned Naegi back down again, "anything would taste fine after what you've been through." Ikusaba looked down at her own feet as she leaned back a little on Naegi's bed. "Say...Naegi..."_

_"What?" Naegi opened her eyes partway in reply. _

_"You reme-..." kusaba was thankful for Naegi's currently-hazed vision. She didn't have a clue about the frown on Ikusaba's face at the time. "You remember earlier...when my si- my friend Junko talked to you earlier a few days ago?"_

_How could Naegi not remember that? To have any interaction at all with an infamous idol was any girl's dream! or at least to Naegi it was. _

_"Y-Yeah?"_

_"W-Well," Ikusaba shifted her eyes away, "you remember when she mentioned those people you could have met? And you said no to it?"_

_"A-Are you mad about it?" Naegi was a little curious as to why she was talking about this all of a sudden. _

_"N-No, no! Nothing like that!" Ikusaba looked back to her calmly, waving her hands dismissively. "I'm not mad or anything, just...curious."_

_"Curious?"_

_"Yeah." She looked up to the ceiling with a perplexed look on her face. "I mean, when she offered to introduce you to other people with despair, you rejected her." She glanced back at Naegi. "Why?"_

_"Why what?"_

_"I mean...well..." Ikusaba suddenly poked her chin. "Actually two things I mean. Um first thing, why did you reject her? Wouldn't you mind being with other people who despair like you?"_

_"But I don't despair." Naegi replied turning on her side. "Just because my life's bad, and I don't have the best of luck, doesn't mean I'm depressed or saddened all the time because of it. I just have to keep hoping it gets better."_

_"And...That's the other thing, this whole "hope" thing." Ikusaba continued as she slid off the couch. She pressed her back against the side of it in a more comfortable position. "The whole thing about hope and all...what's it like?"_

_"Huh? You mean what's Hope, like?" Naegi found the question a little confusing. No one really asked anybody these days about what something as simple as "Hope" was like Even asking herself the same question, she found it a little strange._

_"Well...Yeah." Ikusaba curled her knees up, hugging her legs against her chest. "I mean, does it make you feel good, make you stronger. Like, what does it do?"_

_"Well... I guess...Hmm..." Naegi rubbed her chin as she tried to think of a response. "I...I-I don't really know to be honest. Um...Ok, well how would you describe Despair to begin with?" Ikusaba's heart skipped a beat just from hearing her favorite word. She didn't care to conceal the growing smirk on her face._

_"Oh, that's easy." She replied clutching her hands over her chest. "It's this wondrous feeling inside that keeps you from feeling anything."_

_"A feel that keeps you from feeling anything?" Naegi repeated questionably. Ikusaba chuckled in response._

_"Heh, well it's one of those confusing things I guess. When it comes to something like Despair, you don't really feel anything else. No fear, no joy, no anger, no cheer, it's pretty much just a state where you can't feel anything." Ikusaba explained. "But it's not like it's a bad thing or anything, honest!" She quickly added, smiling back to Naegi. "I mean, without it, I guess I wouldn't be able to be a good soldier and all. Taking lives from others, especially for someone at my age...Being able to tackle any danger or threat in front of you head on... It's something you can't live by without it."_

_"Y-You...ki-killed people?" Naegi asked hesitantly. Ikusaba quickly waved her hands worriedly._

_"N-No, no, it's not like that! I-I mean these were bad, very bad people Naegi. And it was only for paid work." She lied. It was true that some of her contracts did contend with people who were REALLY bad, but not all of them were actually bad. It was just the only way for herself to put food on the table for her and her sister. "D-Don't let it get to you, everyone else knows."_

_"I... I see." Naegi muttered. Ikusaba sighed mentally, glad Naegi at least appeared to be okay with it._

_"So, how would you explain Hope then?" Ikusaba asked expectantly. There was a gleam of interest in her eyes. Not once in her life had she had anything other than her own sister and Despair. It would be at least nice to hear a little about a different type of feeling. Like before, Naegi rubbed her own chin in thought._

_"Well...I guess... I don't know to be honest." She replied disappointingly. "I know it doesn't exactly make you brave enough to charge headfirst into anything like Despair, and when something doesn't go the way you planned, it makes you feel a little bad."_

_Now Ikusaba was getting confused. "So why bother having it? If it just makes you weaker and have this pain from broken feelings, why go along with something like Hope? It sounds pointless!"_

_"But, that's just it. Hope isn't about being pointless or happy." Naegi said. "It's about looking into the future for yourself." Ikusaba tilted her head a little curiously._

_"Looking...into the future?"_

_"Yeah!" Naegi nodded as she smiled. "When it comes to hope, you can't always expect it to be light and bloomy. Sometimes bad things just happen outside of our control." She explained. She took a brief pause to let out a yawn as she slid herself back under the warm sheets of her bed, closing her eyes sleepily. "But with hope it...It gives you this courage to continue on, take a chance for yourself for a brighter future." _

_"A brighter future..." Ikusaba mumbled to herself_

_"As long as you have hope, you don't have to worry about the little things. Just keep on living and move on. You'll see later..." Naegi yawned again as she drifted off into slumber. "You'll see...things will eventually... get better..." _

_And with a final snore, she fell into slumber once more. Naegi may not have had a true talent. She might not even be gifted in a professional field or activity. But those final words continued to ring out in Ikusaba's head without end, causing her heart to race at the mere feeling of it. It was a strange feeling she had in her chest. Her heart raced by the second just thinking of the word "Hope" repeatedly to herself. _

_"Did hope really have this much of an effect on people?" When she thought about it to herself, it was a little strange. _

_Was Hope the reason she made it to where she was now? Was it the reason she was accepted to this prestigious school? From a backwater alleyway as a child, she lived on to becoming a world-renowned superior, who excelled in the art of war. She was no longer a simple homeless child who lived with her sister as the two despaired ever being born the way they were. _

_She gritted her teeth as she clenched her hands over her chest once more. These questions kept bringing a faster pace to her heart as they continued. A sudden thought entered he mind for but a second. It was a very brief, almost vague, thought, but it was one that she knew wouldn't leave her until she said it for herself._

_"Do I have...Hope?"_

_..._

_..._

_..._

"Upupupu! Time for another Spec-tac-u-lor Trial!" Monokuma cheered, raising his paw with excitement.

"Can it, fur ball!" Owada yelled angrily. "This is all because of you like always!"

"And we're not doing anything if you're planning on something cheap like last time!" Naegi yelled.

Naegi was pissed. Everybody was pissed. Why wouldn't they be? For the fourth time now, despite numerous claims and promises to one another, someone had gone and committed another murder. It was exhausting, unethical. But now it was starting to become a nuisance.

At first, everyone was shocked by the first murder when it came about. They didn't think, no matter what happened, that a single student of their school would be capable of murder. The second time it happened, it ended on a tragic note. The murder turned out to be purely accidental, and only due to the aggravation of the victim. The third time brought utter confusion to the group. With a murder that consisted of three murderers simultaneously, it started looking like a bleak hope for the students, seeing how the majority votes were uneven.

By the time the fourth murder had occurred, it left a strange feeling in everyone's chest. It was wrong to say they were used to things by this point, yet that's exactly how it turned out. The weight of losing a friend dearest to them was really weighing down on them, but it was also disturbing them. At this point, they only wanted to end the trial so as to get on with their life. They wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, for the longer the trial lasted, the more pain they would possibly have to bare at the end of it.

Especially Naegi, who held everyone closely to her heart- even those who ended up being the killers.

Out of all the group, she was the only one dressed differently than she was this morning. It wasn't much, but she was wearing her old hoodie again over her new change of clothes. Nobody really understood why, but they were sufficed with the explanation that Naegi was still a little cold from last night. She kept hugging herself for some reason too, but it didn't really concern anyone else that much.

With a sigh and the twirl of his paw, Monokuma brushed aside these remarks as he lounged in his chair, leaning against his side. "Oh relax, drama queens. Everything's, by your definition of, fair this time around. Not that it wasn't ever not fair of course!" He smirked. Nobody went without rolling their eyes, either physically or mentally.

"Well, provided this means we won't have another issue with majority votes, can we discuss the details of this recent case?" Kirigiri requested calmly, like she always did. "Let's go over what people have found this morning then."

"Then let yours truly lead the way!" Yamada spoke with an authoritative tone. "No evil shall go against thine wavering eyes! All for the sake of my beloved!" Kirigiri leaned closer to Owada who was on her left.

"There a reason he's acting weirder than usual?" She mumbled.

"My guess, he hasn't gotten over Celes' death." Owada shrugged mumbling back. "Just ignore it, it'll only go on for a few minutes."

"As I was saying!" Yamada spoke loud and proud, trying to get the two's attention again. "First thing we came across was the tea set placed at the Rec. Room's table!"

"Tea set?" Naegi wondered.

"It was on the middle of the table, with a couch and two chairs surrounding it." Oogami explained. "By my guess, Celes must have met with someone last night."

"I think you mean two of them." Ikusaba corrected. "There were three different cups out there, so she must have met with two people that night."

"Ok so two people..." Naegi mumbled to herself as she counted off. Kirigiri chuckled to herself mentally. She had a pretty good assumption of what Naegi was doing.

"You don't have to worry Naegi, there's most likely one murderer this time." Kirigiri said assuring.

"Sheesh, I already told ya, the amount of majority votes is fair this time!" Monokuma moaned shaking his head. "What has happened to my beloved students who used to trust me so much?"

"I'm pretty sure if you had any, they would've died out by now." Naegi said knowingly.

"And I'm sure the people who met with her last night aren't responsible for her death." Asahina said.

"Why's that?"

"Because the people she met with were Asahina and I." Oogami answered in her place. The group looked back between the two in surprise.

"You two were the ones who met her last night?"

"Yeah." Asahina nodded. "She wanted to have a relaxing evening with the two of us." Asahina rubbed her shoulder with a frown. "She was worried it might have been Oogami's last night with whatever she planned, so she wanted to..." It pained Asahina to even finish her sentence, much to the others' confusion.

"She wanted to have a last night treat together, as a send off." Oogami finished again.

It was a bit surprising to the rest of the group as well. Celes was so worried about Oogami's wellbeing that she wanted to have a final sendoff? They knew Celes' might both, have her cruel side showing, and some decency within her, but to do something like this was unthinkable. She must have been rather worried about whatever Oogami's plan involved night before. If she knew what Ikusaba knew, then it would only make sense.

"Did your plans really have a chance of putting your life at risk?" Naegi shuttered a little at the idea. Oogami promised them, which was a lie, that she wouldn't do anything so life-threatening unless absolutely necessary. She did comment that it might put her life at risk, but only _might. _They didn't know how truly severe her plan would prove if she did go through with it.

"Let's just say it doesn't matter anymore, and leave it at that." Oogami said bluntly. The nerves in everyone's skin didn't settle right after hearing this, but it was probably better not to pry. Besides, all that mattered at the time was getting the trial underway.

"So what did you three talk about?" Ikusaba asked curiously. Asahina didn't seem too concerned about the question, seeing how she only stared off into thought for a few seconds.

"Mmh...it wasn't really much to be honest." Asahina tapped her chin while replying. "We mostly just talked back and forth to one another. It didn't really have to do with anything specific."

"You didn't talk about anything?" Kirigiri pondered this rubbing her chin.

"We mostly just talked about future plans and all. You know, when we all got out of here." Asahina detailed with a happy smile on her face.

"I don't think a murder could occur at that moment anyway." Oogami stated. "For anyone to cover the crime scene with two bodies to deal with, it would be impossible without evidence showing up."

"The chicks got a point." Owada crossed his arms nodding. "I mean, look at the last several trials. No matter how complicated they always had evidence showing up, and that was with one body each time."

"And if you throw two in the same field, then it's asking for trouble." Yamada added. He shifted his glasses as he tried to go on. "I'm not sure if anything else really stood out. By my guess, someone killed her after the meeting with them."

"Wouldn't that mean whoever killed her was someone who was still awake by that point?" Naegi pointed out. "If that's the case, then Kirigiri, Ikusaba, and I all have alibis."

Yamada poked his cheek at this. "You do?"

"Yeah! We were all sleeping together." Naegi said in a casual tone.

Following a brief wave of silence, Ikusaba's and Kirigiri's faces were overcome with a deepening blush. It wasn't much at first, but it was a shade of red which slowly grew darker as time went on. The same embarrassment at just hearing the words swept across the other students all the same. While those level-headed enough, namely everyone except Yamada, were mature enough to understand what she meant, the other side of things, as in Yamada, grew flushed at the mere thought.

Various and scandalous thoughts poured into the doujinshi author's mind, huffing at the face as a little bit of sweat dripped from his brow.

"Y-You were s-s-sleeping all t-together?" He heaved.

"Well yeah, it wasn't anything bad or anything. We were just sharing body heat." Naegi explained.

Another, more immense, wave of embarrassment swept across the room, leaving Ikusaba and Kirigiri with a beat-red blush as their jaws dropped in shock. Naegi was too innocent and mature to care about how she was wording it. It wasn't necessarily a problem, except when dealing with the immature Doujinshi expert, who currently had 187 possible scenarios already running through his head at what this meant.

"S-Sh-Sh-Shari-I-ing b-b-body h-h-he-heat?!" A transparent trickle of drool escaped his mouth as he poked his lips. "W-What else happened?"

"Mmh...I don't know what else to say about it. I mean we were practically naked so we had to-Mmph!" Ikusaba quickly clasped her hand over Naegi's mouth, being able to due to being on her right in the podium next to her.

"Eh heh, N-Naegi, how about we just leave it at we all have alibis, ok?" She chuckled nervously. Her stomach and heart were in various knots from the amount of detail Naegi was inexplicably giving. Kirigiri managed to breath in peace finally, unable to take in a single breath since Naegi's _explanations _started.

"Eck hem," Kirigiri coughed to clear her throat, face still slightly blushing, "I believe it would be suffice to say we three have alibis."

"In that case, so do I!" Owada gestured to himself with his thumb. "The chick's a chick. Case closed." It did actually sum up his alibi verily well. Owada would never so much as harm a single lady, granted he knew about their gender ahead of time. It was a factor that still haunted him with worry, even after apologizing to Naegi for hitting her.

"And if you're accusing me of harming my precious Celestia Ludenberg, I'll...I'll...!" Yamada tried to put on a brave front, but could only groan as he drooped. "I'll have Owada show you who's boss!"

"Why are you getting me involved?!" Owada shouted back.

"But that can't be right!" Asahina proclaimed. "Oogami and I both have alibis too! We were with each other the entire time, even after Celes left."

"We were trying to keep each other preoccupied with simple chat to prevent falling asleep." Oogami spoke in a truthful tone. "We were with each other for at least several hours, even after the newest rule was implemented."

"What time would you say the rule was implemented last night?" Kirigiri asked rubbing her chin.

"Umm...I guess maybe some time after...nine?" Asahina answered with a shrug. "The clock in the Rec. Room was all misty from the humidity and cold, so I couldn't really get a clear view of it."

"Interesting...Say Monokuma?"

"Hmm? Something you have to ask meeeeee?" Monokuma asked intrigued.

"Just out of curiosity's sake, what time did Ikusaba and I fall asleep with Naegi last night?" She appeared to be ahead of the point, as Monokuma noticed her getting straight to the point.

With a low grumble, he replied, "Grrrr ok fine!" He pouted. "If you must know, it was around Nine o'clock too, alright?"

"I see. So you did it when you feared Naegi and the rest of us were going to die." Kirigiri commented with a smile.

"Geeeeh, don't get all mushy with me, alright?" He growled, leaning on his arm. "I can't allow myself to break a rule, no matter what goes on."

"Wait, so you guys have alibis too?" Ikusaba was rather surprised by the turnabout. Her surprise proved contagious as the other students slowly came to the same general thought; nobody here could have done it.

"So...what does that mean?" Naegi peered around the room, looking at everybody's eyes. Not one of them had a single hint of doubt, worry, or fear. Nothing that could indicate if and whom a murderer was. "If we all have alibis, then..."

"We aren't going to stop the debate of course." Kirigiri assured, but rubbed her chin questionably. "From the sound of all this though, suicide is in a probable range here."

"So Celes killed herself?" Asahina couldn't help but find something wrong with that, but from the ultimate liar, a given title, it didn't seem right without reason. "But why did she kill herself then? For our sake?"

"Of course she did!" Yamada deemed proudly. "It's only natural for my sweet to sacrifice herself for my love!"

"...Delusional-ism aside, I think suicide sounds right at this point." Owada agreed nodding. "I mean how else would she set herself up like that?"

"It could have been a murder to look like a suicide." Naegi suggested. "It would make the most sense."

Owada shook his head. "Nah, not possible. Me and Asahina inspected the body and around room. There wasn't any sign of struggle."

"But it can't just be a suicide!" Ikusaba was a little worried at this turnabout. Her sister never told her about details like "whodunit" and such to play fair, so she couldn't figure out either if this was a killing or a suicide. "I mean, just stating it's a suicide off appearance is just... just..."

"Too easy?" Naegi mumbled softly.

She didn't like this feeling anymore than the rest did, but how would they proceed? They already delved into all possible alibis, and nobody was without a clear-cut excuse. Asahina and Oogami would know if the other did, Owada's manly honor would prevent him from doing any harm to a woman, and Yamada was, well Yamada. Mix that in with Naegi's and the other twos' alibi, and a murder was not possible.

And yet to say it was a suicide was making it too easy. Time and again, all the past trials were something deceptive and hard to figure out. There was always some trick or detail thrown in there, and if Monokuma felt like it, he could make the trial nearly impossible to solve. If this trial was clear-cut as it seemed, and if Monokuma truly had no involvement with it, then a suicide was the only possible explanation!

So why did it seem so wrong?

"Maybe we should think of other ways to view this crime." Naegi suggested. "Like in t...the last one when I died." Miniscule sparks of remembering that event still seemed to phase her. "Remember how we re-viewed the case from my death? What if we flipped this one around too?"

"Like how?" Yamada tried thinking of different possible viewpoints. "I mean, when it came to the last one, we viewed it because you and Kyotaka Ishimaru were killed in similar ways, but we don't have a second victim this time."

"Then let's try this morning, after we all woke up."

"M-Morning?" There was a faint hint of worry in Ikusaba's tone, one that only Kirigiri noticed. Something told her this could be worth prying into.

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Naegi." Kirigiri complimented with a simple smile. "What was the first thing everyone noticed upon awakening this morning?"

"Well it kinda depends on how early you want it." Owada commented crossing his arms. "I woke up a little after the announcement this morning. Guess I dozed off cause last thing I remember was resting my eyes sitting near the table in my room."

"I think in part tanks to my..._generous size_, I actually managed to sleep rather peacefully." Yamada was the only person they knew who could account their weight for factoring in how they slept somewhat warmly.

"I guess it was the same for us then?" Asahina said to Oogami. Oogami confirmed this by nodding back to her.

"All I woke up to was the sound of the Corpse Discovery announcement going off this morning." Oogami stated. "It pretty much helped determine why my clothes returned this morning."

"Yeah, to be honest, I never thought I'd enjoy the sweet embrace of clothes like this." Naegi said with a slight chuckle. She was right to be happy like this. After all, who else could say they experienced an entire day without barely any clothing at near-freezing temperatures? Besides the homeless. "I'm a little glad Monokuma at least returned our clothes for all of us."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Monokuma spoke with a curious tone. There was something about the way he smirked that really tipped Kirigiri off, even more than it did to the rest who looked at him. "I just returned your clothes to your rooms. I never brought it straight to anyone."

"What? But that can't be right!" Naegi argued, experiencing a mix of surprise and confusion. "The clothes were right in front of us when we woke up this morning!"

"Sorry champ," Monokuma apologized nonchalantly as he twirled his paw, "I had absolutely no paw in it. Upupupu!"

"But-"

"It's alright, Naegi." Kirigiri spoke softly. "It actually tells me a great lot of what I need to know about this case," she couldn't hold back the slight grin she had directed at one particular person, "doesn't it, Ikusaba?"

"Huh?" Ikusaba was both in total shock, and dumbfounded.

She had the right idea; Ikusaba awoke before the rest of the girls did, and discovered the temperature and Kirigiri's clothing had returned. Not wanting to awaken the other two so early though, seeing how it must've been near 5 A.M., she quietly eased her way out of Kirigiri's room, subtly making her way to Ikusaba's and Naegi's room, and brought a change of clothes directly back.

Sure, with the rooms being soundproof, she probably didn't have to be so silent, but it was better safe than sorry. She would have happily told them about how it was her doing to begin with, if not for the sudden interruption of the Monokuma Announcements. And now, she was suddenly caught off guard by Kirigiri's demeanor.

The way she looked at her, assertive, assuring, there was something about the glint in Kirigiri's eye that made the violet girl believe Ikusaba was the killer.

"Wait, what are you trying to say, Kirigiri?" The panic-like tone was already steadily increasing in Naegi's voice. Kirigiri's heart wouldn't waver from her sudden resolve, but it would burden her indefinitely hereafter.

"Think about it Naegi- At any point during the night, Ikusaba could have gone off to commit the murder, and used the idea of getting our clothes for us as an excuse. She was the last of us to show up in my room, and she could've planned it at any moment when we were all asleep." Kirigiri explained.

"B-But how does that make me the killer?!" Ikusaba shouted back. "By that logic, you could've been the killer too!" To her worry, Kirigiri actually grinned at this.

"Actually, I couldn't." She retorted.

"Huh?"

"Remember how we were positioned last night?" Kirigiri did her best to keep from blushing. It was a serious matter, but with Yamada in the room, he would blow just about anything out of proportion. "I had my arms wrapped around Naegi, and then you had yours wrapped atop of me."

"Ughughughguhg..." As expected, the perverted lonely nerd had thoughts beaming straight into his head. "How tightly were you all together?"

"Ghhh, Yamada, grow up!" Asahina shouted angrily. "For your information, Monokuma doused Naegi with freezing cold water! I would've done just about anything too to keep her warm!"

"Anything?!" Yamada flushed with excitement.

"I think you're making it worse by helping here..." Owada mumbled rolling his eyes.

"Beside the point, from my position, I couldn't possibly maneuver my arms off of Naegi without awakening either of you two." Kirigiri continued. "But with only having one arm on top of me, you could have easily slid away without either of us waking up."

_"You bitch!"_ Ikusaba shouted in her mind as she grit her teeth. She could tell Kirigiri was going to have a heyday with this, but for all the wrong reasons. She was more than sure with all the details, Ikusaba herself was the culprit. It's not Ikusaba wouldn't be tempted to accuse Kirigiri right away if it meant getting rid of her, but she wouldn't continue on to the point where it ended with voting Kirigiri as the culprit and getting it wrong. That would put Naegi's life at stake.

She could also tell Kirigiri wasn't going to end this anytime soon. Ever since the last trial, the two had been neck and neck with each other ever since Kirigiri discovered Ikusaba's partner attempted to kill Naegi. To be fair, she was in the right to be outraged. The partner of the person who killed Naegi is living with Naegi inside her bedroom, while Naegi remains completely oblivious to her background. The only thing Naegi cared for at the time was keeping all her friends alive, and keeping those close to her from ending up as traitors.

Taking a calming breath, Ikusaba regained her composure as she went on. She had to stay on the defensive to keep Kirigiri from convincing the others. "So what, is that the only reason?" Ikusaba grumbled a bit, crossing her arms. "Whether or not I went out to get the clothes, that doesn't mean I committed the murder!"

"You know to be fair, the chicks got a point." Owada stretched while scratching his hair. "So what if she went out to get the clothes? When would she have time to commit the murder?"

"Y-Yeah!" Ikusaba insisted. "I mean, s-she was with Asahina and Oogami the entire time, remember? So I couldn't have-!"

"U-Um...Ikusaba?" Asahina spoke with an uneasy tone. "Celes, she... She didn't stay with us the entire time." Fate appeared to be conspiring against Ikusaba as her little ounce of hope was suddenly dashed.

"What?!"

"S-Sorry!" Asahina apologized regretfully. "B-But she didn't stay with us for very long! In fact, she started feeling a little sick after having our little "Tea Party" for twenty minutes."

"Besides, it wouldn't have mattered anyway." Kirigiri stated. "You already proved adequate suspicion just from this morning alone."

"What do you mean?" Naegi looked upon Kirigiri with fear. She didn't know what she meant, nor did she want to find out. She couldn't bare to lose another friend at this point.

"Naegi, don't you remember what she talked about this morning? About the body on one of the floors?" She reminded. Ikusaba realized what she finally meant.

"W-Wait! I wasn't referring to Celes or anything like that!" The worrying tone that most of the guilty party had up till now filled her voice. It was like talking to the culprits once enough suspicion fell on them.

Despite being the professional in all this, Kirigiri couldn't help but grin mentally at how things were turning about. "Then perhaps you could explain to us just what you did mean? It should be easy since the matter is so simple."

"I-..." Ikusaba shifted her eyes to the one person she was referring to while keeping her head in the other direction.

Sakura Oogami. Just from looking at her, Oogami and I kusasba knew what the other were thinking. How couldn't they? Oogami had blatantly admitted, albeit after Ikusaba deduced for herself, that Oogami planned on committing suicide in order to save the rest. It was a heartwarming, noble, sacrifice, one with the pure intention of saving all her friends, including Ikusaba as well.

However, the only promise Oogami bestowed upon Ikusaba, was that she wouldn't tell the others about this. It was imperative for Oogami to go through with this, and despite her current feelings, Ikusaba couldn't bring herself to talk Oogami out of it. With Naegi's life on the line, she would do anything to save her.

Even if she did want to admit it, she couldn't without the fear of Oogami exposing her secret as well. Oogami and Ikusaba knew each other on a more personal basis, with Oogami having met Ikusaba and Monokuma directly from time to time. While she wasn't entirely aware of who Ikusaba pretended to be early on, she knew more than enough to expose Ikusaba for everyone to see.

Now, she was cornered. She didn't have a choice in the matter. Oogami was alive here, so what difference did it make? If Kirigiri went on the offensive, and tried pinning the blame on her, not only would Ikusaba's hatred for her double, she would lead the rest of the group down the wrong path, possibly to their own executions! She couldn't let that happen, especially to Naegi of all people.

"I-I wasn't talking about Celes though," Ikusasba painfully gestured to Oogami, feeling the weight of betrayal against her heart, "I...I meant Oogami..."

Sakura?" Asahina questioned looking back to her. Oogami just continued her stare, directing her full attention to Ikusaba.

"S-She...She was going to kill herself to save you guys..." Kirigiri actually noticed a small bit of pain as Ikusaba said this. It was an interesting note she had to make for herself, but for now, her attention was matching the rest of the groups as they all faced Oogami.

"She was going to what?!" Naegi stammered looking at her. Like all those past times, she felt betrayal enter her mind at realizing this. Oogami assured them all that she wouldn't do anything _drastic_ to the best of her abilities. Obviously, taking your own life away WAS drastic! It was beyond drastic!

How would Oogami take this? Everyone's attention was on to her for the time being. She was the one people waned answers from, completely ignoring the murder case currently at hand. She was their friend, and she deceived all of them more now than when she was the puppet master's mole. They cared for her safety and her wellbeing, just like everyone else's.

Would she explain herself? Would she pass it off? Everyone needed to hear something from Oogami at this point, they wouldn't let it go until she said anything. She needed to tell them at least something to continue on the trial, assure them that Ikusaba was telling the truth. Otherwise, they would all start accusing her and believe that she did it! It was to save the group at this point.

Turning away from others, Oogami said something Ikusaba never expected.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

...

...

...

A/N: Huzzah! 2 chp, a day in a row ^^! We're getting back on track, aren't we :P? Sadly, don't expect too much of these X/ I got to work on my commissions next for the New Yorker thing, + some stuff got a bit messed up which will take extra time, followed by even MORE extra time due to the upcoming projects I NEED to finish X/

Also, we've reached our 80TH REVIEWER! Huzzaaaaaaahhhhhhhhughggggggggghhhhhhhh I'm not looking freaking forward to it XD LmaoXD Don't get me wrong, won't mind it of course, just scared if it'll turn up like the last long nightmare I did XD I had fun doing it of course, but it was 30k and 3 full chps- IT WAS LOOOOONG XD!

Anyway, the 80th mark goes to **Westerner**- As always, he/she gets the next Bonus episode choice ^^ Only condition, going to have to wait till AFTER I fin the trial. I want to get some plot caught up around here first X/

So, as always, leave a like, a fav, a rev, and hoped you enjoyed ^^! Stay tuned!


	31. When Worse gets Worse - Trial 4 Part 2

A/N: Whoooohohoohohohooooo! We've had some great guesses here and there from the reviews about who the possible killer is ^^ But only by reading on, will you know the Despair the Truth will bring!…..or something like that.

Anyway enjoy ^^!

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"W-Wh-What do you mean you don't know?" Ikusaba shriveled in response. Her eyes shook with every word, unable to believe what Oogami told them.

"It means what I said," Oogami replied calmly, "I don't recall anything about what you thought I said."

"T-Th-That's a lie!" Ikusaba stammered.

She couldn't believe this, nobody in her position could. This trial all started with the simple death of their good friend Celes. From the way she looked, it appeared to be a suicide, but no one was against the idea that it was a cover-up for a murder. It was a rather easy suicide to replicate, so any one of the students could have easily pulled off a murder. And imagine Ikusaba's surprise when the lack of evidence began pointing towards her!

It wasn't supposed to be like this. As long as Naegi was alive, she promised she would never harm a soul, unless it was to save Naegi's life. If she committed a murder at any point, she ran a good risk of people figuring out it was her, and then the trial would see to it that she was executed. It wasn't that the was against the idea or anything, but as long as Naegi was safe and happy, she had no reason to do anything.

Yet, even when it came to doing nothing, the crime still somehow pointed to her.

This trial was the hardest to give a thorough examination to through the evidence. There was only a half-hour for the students to collect and gather as much evidence as they could. It was a little hard to figure out what to look for though, seeing how a suicide was the most possible conclusion out of all of this. Not wanting to give up or get to a vote too soon, the group decided to think outside the murder, just like the last trial. Through circumstantial evidence, and detailing what everyone did that morning, somehow, the evidence pointed to Ikusaba, and only because she left the room Kirigiri and Naegi were sleeping in that morning to get their clothes.

What's more, Kirigiri used the little slip-up she made earlier with the remark about there being a body on the third floor. She didn't have the exact evidence to prove which body she was talking about, but with Kirigiri's lack of trust for the girl already, it was easy to assume she meant Celes'. It was difficult for her to keep from jumping at her too. With how Ikusaba's been since first meeting, the two have been neck-and-neck for Naegi's affection, and throat-to-throat for tearing the other one's out.

She needed to retain her professionalism in this matter, and to prove that Ikusaba was indeed the killer. She just needed to figure out how to go about this, and how to keep herself from scaring Naegi. She has already been through numerous difficulties since coming here, and Kirigiri would never forgive herself for burdening her further.

But above all, she needed to get Naegi on her side in this.

And Ikusaba needed Oogami's confession. She knew for a fact she herself didn't do it, not unless her sister developed some recent form of hypnosis she wasn't aware about. If the trial continued the way it was, everyone would think Ikusaba did it, and not only would that lead them to getting the wrong vote, but they would all be executed as well. And Oogami's confession was the one thing to help guarantee her innocence at this point.

So why was she suddenly lying about all of it?!

"Y-You told me yesterday yourself!" Ikusaba continued to shout. It was hard to tell if she was being serious, or defensive, seeing how most of the culprits got like this when the blame came on them. "Y-You admitted that you were going to kill yourself to save the rest of us!"

"I already told you, I have no idea what you're talking about." Oogami spoke calmly.

"Bullshit!" Ikusaba slammed on the podium with anger. This was what it was like for a student of despair, lashing out like this under the simplest amount of stress. The anger burning in her eyes didn't help convince the other students of her innocence.

In fact, they were getting much more suspicious than needed.

"You know perfectly well that you said it! You kept going on and on to me about-!"

"Shut up!" Asahina shouted back. "How dare you accuse Sakura of something like that!"

"Yeah man," Owada cracked his knuckles threateningly, "I mean, the chick already planned to help us by dealing with the AC problem in her own way! Don't go disrespecting that!"

"And your sudden reaction is quite unconvincing." Yamada commented as he adjusted his glasses. "It might not be my department to base off appearance, but you're acting like the last several culprits we had."

"You don't have to be so hard on her." Oogami stated. "Perhaps it was a simple lack of communication on my part. I said that my plan could cost me my life, but I would refrain from uncertain risk. It's the same thing I told the rest of you, but I apologize for not explaining myself further."

"Don't apologize Sakura, you didn't do anything wrong!" It was only natural that Asahina would take Oogami's word over Ikusaba. They were an inseparable pair, like Ikusaba and her sister. The only difference being how crazed one pair was compared to the other...

"B-But she didn't-!" Ikusaba tried to argue. The frantic, pained, look in her eyes were too resembling to that of a guilty party's. It would be hard for anyone to trust her at this time. They couldn't bee blamed either.

This whole trial has seen things that were "lacking". Only scare amount of evidence, multiple people with an alibi while one was without, and the current appearance of someone who's already guilty. There were multiple factors riding on this that pointed out to Ikusaba being the killer, granted that without anything else to go by without decisive evidence. It didn't help that under stressful situations like this, Ikusaba was known to blurt out things that came to mind, otherwise she wouldn't have said something about a body this morning in front of Kirigiri and Naegi.

What she needed right now were her friends to believe in her- at least that's what she thought to herself at that moment. It was then that it suddenly dawned on her what Oogami said the other night before as well, about how she was a friend to them all. To think of them as friends, to need them as such. She realized she was becoming too close to these people, when all she wanted was Naegi.

And Naegi wanted to help.

"Why does any of this matter?" Naegi asked as she spoke up. "I mean, so what if she's without an alibi? That doesn't account for the other things, right?" Ikusaba was almost heartbroken at this, but in a good way. Compared to the other way around, Naegi was the one defending her this time. "Besides, just having an alibi doesn't mean the killer couldn't have one either." Kirigiri caught a minor lump in her throat, and possibly her chest.

Naegi's been through so many deceptions through her last several weeks of this school, and this would be the last thing she needed. She had to find a way to convince Naegi without seeming aggressive, which was hard to do with Ikusaba being her current priority, and to get Naegi to side with them.

"W-What other evidence, Naegi?" Kirigiri pretended to ask in a curious tone.

"Well..." Naegi lowered her head. Normally, she would've looked like she was about to rub her shoulders from the tension, but she continued to hold her arms around her stomach tightly. It seemed a little off. "Like the Corpse Discovery Announcement this morning." This caught the others off guard, finding it a little strange why she would bring up such a minor topic like that.

"What about it?" Owada wanted to find the heart of her curiosity. "It doesn't sound like much of a spot to talk about."

"Actually, I would like to debate on the matter myself." Oogami smiled in support, surprising Asahina.

"Huh? But Sakura, you don't have to!" She assured. "Ikusaba doesn't have an alibi for the time, so shouldn't we try looking for evidence related to her?"

"I concur with Master Aoi Asahina's words." Yamada nodded. "Besides, you already said how your words proved Ikusaba to be the-"

"I never said I believed Ikusaba to be the culprit, despite not having an alibi." Oogami interrupted. "All I said is that she misinterpreted my words, nothing more."

The atmosphere was growing a little thick within the room. Kirigiri could easily feel it within her heart as she softly clenched her chest. This feeling, the familiar-ness of it, it was like a fake memory of sorts. It was something that told her that something else was going on, or there was danger looming around. Even if she didn't like Ikusaba, much less trust, she needed to confirm this feeling.

"I-I...eh hem." Kirigiri coughed to regain her composure. "I-I believe it would be a wise decision then." Ikusaba could only stare, slightly fascinated, and slightly intrigued. She knew Kirigiri was straining just to pass off on the fact that she could've been wrong about her earlier assumption. It was a little funny to watch, but somewhat sad. "L-Let's look at the other evidence first."

"Heh?" Yamada looked puzzled. "Like what?"

"Like who discovered her body first." Naegi answered. "You guys were all outside her door when we gathered, but did you already see her body?"

Owada nodded as he looked up in thought. "So that's what you wanted to get at." It was a pretty general question, but it was easy to answer too. "Well...I don't know which of us did first, but Yamada and I ran into each other first this morning about the body."

"For a moment, I prayed silently it was someone else's body when I screamed at him," Yamada sniffled tearing up, "I just couldn't accept my sweet Celestia Ludenberg would leave me like that..." Everyone felt sorry and sad for the lonely geek, but not for the reasons they should be.

"Anyway, I guess we were the first ones on the scene, then we ran into Asahina and Oogami and told them about it." Owada continued.

"The both of us found the body like that after the others told us." Asahina added with a frown. "To be honest... I'm a little bit on Yamada's side here. Just seeing her going off and killing herself like that? It didn't seem like her, and it didn't add up with what she said last night." The curious faces of the students turned to her.

"What do you mean?"

"..." Asahina hugged herself, still uncomfortable with the recent events. "S-She said she'd see us in the morning." The same curious students' jaws dropped simultaneously. This trial just became a bit more confusing.

"Wait- What?!" Yamada stammered. "You didn't think such an important detail was relevant?!"

"Do NOT blame her for her feelings." Oogami spoke in a simple but stern tone. The large gopher-cheeked boy could be heard gulping in response. "It wouldn't have mattered at the time anyway. She left us before the new rule was implemented last night, which means there's no guarantee she would've said that or not if she saw the rules ahead of time."

"But why would she kill herself then?" Ikusaba finally managed to speak. After all the stress and accusations coming at her, she felt hesitant to add anything to the conversation until they let up. "I mean, I don't know much about her, but I'm surprised she didn't try taking someone else's life as opposed to her own."

Owada shook his head with his fists at his side. "I guess you never truly know a person." He muttered.

During all this, Kirigiri felt her heart continue to race. Her heart felt the pain from appearing wrong about her accusation, the stress from letting her emotions depict that Ikusaba was the killer, and, much to her surprise, Guilt. Guilt from believing that Ikusaba could've been a killer just from a simple lack of an alibi.

She hated Ikusaba, so much. She didn't trust her a bit, especially not when she was around Naegi all the time. Yet, she couldn't shake the weight of the guilt from her chest. It was burdening, malicious. She knew for an absolute fact that she had to apologize to the accused girl later on, no matter how much she hated it. If not for Ikusaba's sake, then at least for the sake of her own relationship to Naegi. She might not forgive Kirigiri after this trial otherwise.

"So let's look at it as a murder, then." Oogami suggested. "Was there anything else about the crime scenes that anyone else noticed?"

"Not on our end." Owada replied. He took the moment to pull out his e-Handbook, skimming through the programs and examining the evidence. "Even the Monokuma file doesn't give a detailed depicture of her death."

"It's said it's because the cold messed up all possible forms of the autopsy." Yamada added. A few glares were shot at the stuffed bear

"What? It's not like I EXPECTED the cold to mess up the autopsies." He said with a grinning smirk. It was obviously a lie on his end.

Either way," Owada continued, "the only other thing Asahina and I noticed was a bit of blood around her mouth." Yamada's jaw dropped in disbelief, suddenly comprehending his words."

"W-Wait, what?! Why didn't you mention this sooner?!" Yamada stammered, still shaking.

Owada raised a questionable brow at him. "Huh? What's your prob'? We figured it was just a result of her hanging herself."

"Yeah," Asahina nodded, "we thought she could have bit her tongue while hanging herself, or maybe blood clogged her throat or something if her neck broke."

"T-That's not the issue! It's not the issuuuuuuuuuue!" Yamada groaned wiping his sweat.

"What is the issue then?"

"We found blood on the tea cups in the Rec. Room." Ikusaba answered.

Everyone else was taken back by this. Despite the lack of decisive details, they were finally able to make a comeback and discover some much needed evidence. it was a long shot, and only minor details, but it was better than the nothing they've had up to this point. Anything would've helped by now.

"It was a small amount, but at least enough to leave a mark on it." Ikusaba rubbed her chin, processing the scenario. "From what I could tell, she must've been bleeding from the mouth during that time too. The drinks in the cups must've been laced with something at the time."

"Cup-S?" Kirigiri emphasized the plural pronunciation of what she said. "You mean more than one cup had blood in it?"

"Yeah, but I figured she drank them both. They were right next to each other." Ikusaba explained.

"Impossible!" Yamada yelped. "In my many days of willingly serving her, not once had she ever drank out of two different cups of tea!" There was a sparkle of genuine pride in his glasses with this. "She even told me herself she never wastes the fine quality of serving cups."

"Then the cups belonged to someone else?" Naegi asked.

"I think we should focus more on what was in the cups at the moment." Oogami stated. "Talking about her habits isn't gong to get us anywhere."

"I agree with Oogami." Kirigiri remarked. "Let's focus on the cups for the time being and then focus on what she was doing."

As she said this, Ikusaba couldn't help but glance back over to Oogami. There was a million questions riding on her mind at the time, like why she didn't confess to the truth, or why she kept insisting she never said anything. Did Ikusaba herself truly misinterpret what she said? She could admit mind was boggled that night with numerous confusions, so it's not entirely impossible, but it didn't lift the weight on her pacing heart.

_"Something's not right here..._" She thought to herself.

"So what did you have to drink, Asahina?" Naegi asked curiously. Asahina poked her chin in thought.

"Well, protein powder of course." She answered.

"You had protein powder as a drink for tea?" Owada couldn't tell whether to find it interesting or weird. Probably weird. "That seems like a bit of a weird thing to have, doesn't it?"

Asahina shrugged. "I found it a little weird myself to be honest, but Celes insisted on it."

"I think she was trying to make, what she thought was, my last few moments more memorable." Oogami guessed.

"Of course she would! My sweet Celestia Ludenberg is always such an angel." Yamada's eyes sparkled with glee.

There was absolutely no hope left for him- everyone was sure of that.

"Why didn't she ask you for anything else though?" Naegi asked again. "I mean, it's nice that she was being considerate, but even for her, it sounds a little strange that she would just ask for Protein Powder."

"I found it strange myself to be honest." Asahina agreed with a nod. "I was also partly jealous too, cause I didn't get to have some."

"Sorry Asahina," Oogami apologized with a chuckle, "I didn't realize we'd run out so soon after having three spoons of it."

"But I don't think it really matters. She started feeling queasy after having some, and then a couple minutes later, that's when she left."

"She started feeling sick soon after having some...!" Kirigiri was just struck but a realization. "Then it must've been-!"

"Poison!" Ikusaba interrupted quickly, stealing Kirigiri's thunder. "It's the only explanation for it. If there was blood found in her cup, then it's the only explanation."

"P-Poison?!" Asahina's eyes widened in fear.

"B-B-Bu-Bu-Bu-!" Yamada stuttered speechlessly. "B-B-Bu-But that would mean the one who killed her was-!"

"I think you're on the wrong track here." Oogami spoke in a firm tone. "Don't forget, I already had some too, and three full servings of it at the same time."

"Do you think she poisoned herself then?" Ikusaba's reasoning was met with confused stares. "Who knows, maybe this was all some elaborate trap of hers to bring us all down together?"

"Now that you mention it, just seeing her hanged like that seemed a little bit obvious." Naegi commented. "The chair itself wasn't even kicked away. If she wanted to kill herself from hanging, then she wouldn't leave the chair somewhere close by. Anyone getting hanged would've tried using it to support themselves in the air."

"So...if all this comes together then..." Owada finally seemed to be on the same page as the rest of them. With what he realized, he couldn't help but grumble angrily as he squeezed his fists. "Oh, that dirty rotten bitch!" He cursed. "She poisoned herself and then set this all up to look like a fake suicide!"

"Lies, only lies!" Yamada was suffering from denial, so everyone knew to ignore him for now.

"She...did...?" Something didn't settle right with Naegi on this. She couldn't tell what it was exactly, no matter how many times she repeated the phrase inside of her head.

"If we're right about this then...doesn't that make Celes the culprit?" Asahina wondered. "I mean do we even vote for the person if they're their own killer?"

"Yes indeedy!" Monokuma answered raising his paw. "Whether it's your own, or someone else's, a murder or a suicide, all it comes down to is that it's still murder!"

The seven remaining students glanced at one another with worry. This is what they wanted; a conclusion and correct answer to the case at hand. It was definitely one of the more confusing cases they've ever had to deal with, but as long as they thought things through and looked at the evidence thoroughly, they didn't have a thing to worry about.

Yet, it was everything proceeding up to this finale that lead them feeling empty. It left a feeling that told them to fill in the blanks. But what else was there to go by? They gathered all the evidence they could in time, their time limit being constrained to half an hour, and they didn't leave any gaps unfulfilled. Going by it again, they replayed the events in each of their own heads;

Last night, Celes wanted to have a little "tea party" gathering, consisting of her, Asahina, and Oogami. During that time, for whatever reason, Celes poisoned her own drinks, which was supposed to consist of nothing but protein powder. Because of the cold last night, in part _thanks_ to Monokuma, they were all stooped by the lack of detail to the Monokuma Report.

Fortunately enough, with a bit of reasoning on everyone's end, and their understanding of Celes, they realized by now that she committed suicide. As to why she would wish to would remain unknown, but this is just what the evidence provided. Whether or not they agreed to it, they would just have to live with it.

During this time, Ikusaba was overwhelmed with a sense of relief. This trial came so close to being their end, and while she would never question her sister on it, she considered the possibility that her sister would actually execute her too. Being filmed live to the world, she could partly understand for Despair's sake, but would her sister truly be twisted enough to execute her of all people? They were together since orphans! There's no way she could.

...Right?

For the most part, Ikusaba was just glad that she had Naegi on her side. If she didn't give her piece of mind to the group, they could've voted on her earlier on, and gotten everyone else killed. It was because of Naegi that they were still alive. Ikusaba could only smile warmly in her mind as she stared at Naegi. She found her to be more of a sweetheart now of all times, provided there was a point she didn't earlier on.

"Very well then!" Monokuma cheered with excitement. "If nothing else, please cast your votes-!"

"WAIT!" Naegi yelped fearfully.

"Ghhhh!" This was the second time Monokuma found himself growling in anger, having been interrupted before a vote was cast like the third trial. "If you start making a habit of this like the vomit thing, I'm gonna muzzle you!"

"Hey, shut up and let the chick speak!" Owada grumbled back.

"Is something bothering you Naegi?" Kirigiri asked curiously. Naegi frowned a little as she shifted her eyes away. Like she had been up to this point, she continued hugging herself as opposed to rubbing her shoulders.

"Y-Yeah, kind of." She replied. "It has to do with Celes' suicide." Oogami eyed her suspiciously.

"What about it? A suicide is a suicide. Nothing more." She deemed.

"And that's exactly what's bothering me! I don't think it was a suicide." Naegi stated. Several exchanged-glances were shot between the students. Naegi always did have an eye for noticing something, but it didn't help things on their ends when they were left in the dark about it.

"Why...don't you think it's a suicide?" Oogami asked. "Poison is out of the question, remember?"

"Yeah but... who hanged Celes then?" Slow aspects of revelation were beginning to come to the numerous students, understanding her confusion. "I mean, if she wanted to kill herself, she would've let the poison do the work for her, right? If that's the case, what was the point in hanging herself?"

"Oh my-!" Ikusaba's eyes lit up. "She's right! If she wanted to bring us down with her, then she wouldn't have hung herself then."

"What do you mean?" Owada asked scratching his head. "Wasn't the point to keep us from knowing it was a suicide?"

"That's what she's concerned about." Kirigiri replied. "If it was a simple suicide, she would've stayed in bed the whole time. No one would've known she would have just killed herself, because we would've assumed she could've been murdered in her sleep."

"What..." Oogami furrowed her brows. "What sort of nonsense is this?!" The rage building behind Oogami's voice was quite surprising to the numerous students. Was she just acting upset because she was wrong about her previous belief?

"S-Sakura?" Asahina mumbled. She was feeling a twinge of fear from Oogami's strange behavior.

"What changes this from a murder to a suicide?!" Oogami stammered. "Perhaps our thinking was wrong then and she didn't want to drag us down with her. That's why she hung herself!"

"H-Hey, are you feeling okay?" Owada could sense the strange feeling coming from her voice. "You're acting a little weird..."

"I simply wish to keep us from disrespecting the dead." Oogami grumbled crossing her arms. "She sacrificed herself to save us. I will not allow intolerance of her death!"

"H-He-Hey!" Yamada trembled with fear as he spoke. "C-Calm down Master s-Sakura Oogami, p-please? We're only a-assuming here, honest!" Oogami only continued to grumble as she looked away.

The students looked at her with a bizarre sense of wonder. She was acting completely different compared to her usual self. She was acting more brash, didn't seem willing to accept anything more than Celes committing suicide, and didn't want anymore discussion with Celes's status. The way she kept insisting they continue on was almost...suspicious.

"...Hey, Oogami?" Ikusaba spoke up. "Remember earlier when you said you believed I misinterpreted things about your suicide?"

"Why are you bringing that up again?" It seemed like something Ikusaba of all people would want to avoid talking about. Knowing her, Kirigiri figured she must've been up to something. "She said it was a simple misinterpretation of things, remember?"

"Yeah...and that's what confuses me..." Ikusaba lowered her head, rubbing her chin with her thumb and finger. "Am... Am I the only one who truly misinterpreted things?"

For the first time since Ikusaba met Oogami, even before all this Mutual Killing nonsense, she saw her brow twitch in response. It wasn't' like one of bent up anger or surprise, but one of utter and complete shock. It only lasted a moment, hence forth no one else saw it, but it was enough to tell Ikusaba that she was on the right track of things. She just needed to keep pushing.

"W-Why would you ask that?" Oogami's voice had a distinct shake in it. It wasn't anything particularly new to the people she knew, the problem was this was the first time any of them had heard something like this. "Of course you were., despite my insistence."

"And that's the part that bothers me..." Ikusaba retorted. "Did Celes happen to have a similar _misunderstanding _too?"

"You think she thought Oogami was going to kill herself too?" Naegi asked in surprise.

When she truly thought about it, it did make a little bit of sense. Adding everything up to this point, it would mean Celes' reasoning behind the tea party earlier was to celebrate Oogami's eventual sacrifice to the group. They never were aware of how deep or how far Oogami was going to push things in order to save the lives of her friends, but if Celes had an inkling of the idea as well, and turned up murdered this morning, it was enough to arouse even more suspicion.

"Hey! don't go accusing Sakura of something like that again!" Asahina yelled. "Don't forget, you're only here now because she backed off about it."

As if reading each other's thoughts on the same wavelength, Kirigiri gave Oogami a close observation of her composure. "You know, now that we bring this up, exactly how did Celes poison herself?" That same twitch in Oogami's brow showed again, only this time, both Ikusaba and Kirigiri could notice it.

"Do you think she laced her drink with something?" Owada suggested. "Some deviant like her, I wouldn't be surprised if she made some sort of poison herself."

"But then where did she get it from?" Naegi retorted. "From what I've seen, there isn't anything around the school that could be used as a poison. We don't even have a simple rat poison."

"It was probably the chemicals in the lab." Yamada answered. "There's a large variety of concoctions within the lab. It wouldn't be out of her power to access one, even without an advanced degree of knowledge."

"B-But that's impossible! I didn't even get any chemicals, just the protein powder!" Asahina argued. Ikusaba shuddered as she turned away at this.

"It's true...There was a container of protein powder at the Rec. Room." She confessed. "I just didn't think it had any baring on this case."

"Is there anything ELSE someone wants to bring up?" Owada's irritated voice matched his rolling eyes. "We're getting told these things when they would've been more useful earlier on you know."

"I'm pretty sure that's the last of it." Yamada assured.

"It better be. This trial's getting confusing enough just remembering everything with each new subject we bring up." Kirigiri commented.

That was an understatement, or perhaps a wrong turn of phrase. It wasn't so much confusing remembering each thing with each topic, the issue stemmed fro trying to piece that new bit of info into each topic along with the other stuff. From what has finally been gathered, a rope-tied noose, and possibly poison, were the two possible causes of Celes' death. The only issue that now stood was the order of events, how was the poison administered, and who was the most likely suspect.

"But wait a minute, how could Celes poison the drinks in the first place?" Asahina questioned. "I was the only one giving drinks to the three of us, and I didn't see her put anything in her cup!"

"Neither did I." Oogami stated. "I would've noticed even the slightest gesture if she tried adding something in."

That was a fair point. If Celes did add poison into her drink, then why was it neither of the two saw it? Fortunately enough, Naegi had a proposal.

"Hey, what if...What if the protein powder was the poison?" Naegi suggested. It was like a light bulb of inspiration as more of the mysterious plotlines behind this case began to unfold. "If the powder itself was poisonous, then it could've been given to her without her knowing!"

"I've repeatedly told you, that's **impossible**!" Oogami shouted, squeezing the podium under her hands with enough force to cause them to crack.

"O-Oo-Oog-gami?" Naegi shook from the sudden rage directed at her, her eyes slightly quivering in fear.

"I will state this for the last time," Oogami spoke with a deep-toned rage in her throat, "it is impossible for her to have administered the poison Asahina herself served!" Naegi couldn't tell what was causing so much anger behind Oogami's mind, but she couldn't back down at this moment.

At least she didn't try to. "B-But then what if she didn't make the poison? What if Asahina-"

"If you utter one more word about Asahina, I will **SNAP** your neck where you stand!" She threatened, actually breaking off the wooden podium in front of her with her own hands. The immense aura of rage overwhelmed the innocent Naegi, causing her eyes to tear up from the immense amount of fear lying behind it. Neither of her two girls would let Oogami get away with something like this. It became more personal to them.

"Why exactly is it so impossible, Oogami?" Kirigiri asked firmly. "Because you keep stating how you had some too?"

"Now that you keep mentioning it, what exactly factors how lethal a poison is?" Ikusaba added. "I can recall some poisons that are only lethal to those who aren't strong enough to withstand it, weak bodies that break first."

Oogami knew what they were getting at, being aware of their "relationship" to Naegi. She could only smirk as she accepted their challenge they were presenting. "If that was the case, then I suppose I must be a saint. After all, you're telling me I survived three full doses of poison otherwise."

"W-Wait, but if her drink was poisoned too-!" Asahina's eyes widened with fear, one which was shared with Naegi at the same time.

After Kirigiri and Ikusaba, Asahina was one of her closest friends. She was always nice, perky, she did just about everything to help Naegi stay in a positive mood,even going as far as to hide her bedwetting incident over a week beforehand, although there was a slim chance Ikusaba knew after meeting Naegi first in the laundry room. Naegi wouldn't be able to accept this though. Asahina was her closest friend, and she absolutely KNEW she wouldn't-no. She _couldn't_ kill someone!

And so did Oogami, who appeared to be fuming at the statement. "Don't let them get to you, Asahina. You didn't kill anyone!"

"Or did she?" Kirigiri was too focused on Oogami's rage to notice Asahina's reaction. "Asahina, don't you find it strange that Celes wanted you to share a nice little tea party with her and Oogami, and then suddenly fell ill almost immediately after having a drink?"

"Do NOT involve her in this!" Oogami roared. It was beginning to confirm Ikusaba's latent suspicions.

"What if...it was part of her plan? To use the powder as an excuse to give you two poison?" Ikusaba suggested. "She could've easily swapped the labels or contents, making it easy to give you two the poison instead."

"When you think about it, it isn't too surprising if Oogami did drink the poison too. Don't forget the second cup with blood we found on it." Ikusaba reminded.

"I can't question the chances of surviving a poison without knowing how lethal it is, but if strength was a factor, I can perfectly agree that it helped Oogami survive." This was one of those few moments when Kirigiri would work together with Ikusaba. If it meant getting Naegi out of this safely, and possibly regain her trust and support again, she would go through any lengths.

"And knowing her relationship with Asahina, I'm sure she would've more than happily helped cover up for her."

"Huh...You know when you picture it that way, it does kind of explain the Discovery Announcement this morning." All eyes shifted onto Owada. "With the two of them going in at the same time, Asahina could've helped covered the fact it wouldn't go off when she went in by herself."

"And, after Asahina would reveal her murder, I wouldn't be too surprised if Oogami hung the body herself." Kirigiri inputted. "It would've made the perfect excuse to look like a suicide."

Yamada let out a startled gasp. "Are you saying Sakura Oogami purposely helped Asahina knowing this?!"

"B-Bu-But-!" Asahina teared up at the thought. "I-I couldn't...t-there's no way..."

Naegi gazed deeply into her eyes. This wasn't right, for numerous reasons. The tears flowing from Asahina's face, Oogami's frequent out lashing of anger, it was too strange. She had the eyes of an innocent in her eyes, and the feeling of a pure friend. This wasn't like Fujisaki in the second case, although she still felt the same amount of pain that came with the current revelations that were being brought forth.

When it came to Fujisaki, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she saw a strange glimmer of despair in his eyes. He denied being the killer as much as possible, but no matter how much Naegi wanted to believe him, something about him was truly suspicious. Sure, there might not have been any guarantee at the time that he was innocent, but there was enough Naegi to still trust in him until the very end.

Then why didn't Asahina have that same look? It's like she truly didn't know what was going on either.

"Are you two dead certain...Are you willing to go far enough as to accuse Asahina, as the killer, up to this point?" Oogami squeezed the wooden chunks in her hand, trying to quell her own rage. "You think Asahina poisoned Celes and I, using chemicals found within the science lab, hung her body to trick everyone into thinking it was a suicide, and then walked in with her, just to make sure the Corpse Discovery Announcement went off?!"

Both Ikusaba and Kirigiri looked at each other briefly. This was one of those times where they knew they had to work together, for Naegi's sake. They did admit they were uncomfortable with the idea, and even more uncomfortable with how Oogami was responding to all of this. With a nod back to one another, they shifted their attention back to Oogami once more. They could see the rage beginning to subside.

She was at her limits.

"Yes, Oogami." Kirigiri answered calmly.

"...Hmph," Oogami smiled crossing her arms, "in that case I'm glad."

"HUH?!" Nobody, especially Asahina herself, expected this reaction in the least. They expected her to be put-off with something like this, irritated, angered, or at least saddened of all things. But happiness? That was the VERY LAST thing any of them could have ever expected. Before any of them could bring this reaction up, Oogami spoke again. "Monokuma, I believe our deal comes to order now."

Huff, yeah, yeah." Monokuma groaned, lowering his head. "Go ahead and tell 'em if you must ruin the fuuuun..." Now everyone was really confused.

"S-Sakura?" Asahina mumbled. She didn't appear to have any idea what was going on either, which Ikusaba and Kirigiri finally noticed. Oogami just smiled to her, with her arms crossed as always.

"It's alright, Asahina. You'll be safe now." Oogami said with a warm smile. Ikusaba was the only one to notice this, like before, as she peered into Oogami's eyes. It was the same kind she had when she was ready to sacrifice herself, much like they were last night. "None of you have to struggle anymore. I am the killer."

"Huh? You're telling us you're the killer?" Yamada didn't seem to understand. His confusion was understandable to be fair, given the circumstances. Oogami herself seemed to expect this even, smiling at his expression.

"I understand if you hold doubt in your minds about it." Oogami noted. "But I'm telling you the truth. Asahina is not the killer, I am."

The atmosphere in the room didn't change when she said this. Everyone was still a little on edge, and too deep in the evidence and details they've already come across. Plus, Oogami was a very close friend to Asahina. At this point, everyone could just pass this off as a simple bluff to protect Asahina again, not that they wouldn't have the right reasoning to think as much. Only one person believed her right away.

"I think she's telling the truth." Naegi said softly. Both Kirigiri and Ikusaba were surprised by this, and a little hesitant to agree with her just because she was her.

"N-Naegi?" Kirigiri questioned. Oogami eyed her again, but with softer eyes.

"Naegi," she muttered with a kind smile, "I'm sorry if I scared you for a moment. I only needed to give the right push." She apologized, shifting her eyes back to Ikusaba and Kirigiri briefly. Naegi just smiled back to her.

"It's okay, I know." She couldn't help as her heart raced a little while saying this however.

"What makes you think she's telling the truth though, Naegi?" Ikusaba asked curiously. "She could just be lying again!" Naegi shook her head to her, still smiling.

"But that's just it. I don't think she is at all." She looked over to Asahina again, still noticing the oblivious, fearful, eyes in her retinas. "Aside from how Asahina's acting, I don't think it would make much sense either."

"What wouldn't?" Owada asked back. "I'm not much of a chemist or science guy myself, but I don't think it would be too hard slapping some science stuff together and calling it poison."

"It's not that though, it's the other thing." Naegi rubbed her chin ponderingly. "Asahina and Oogami are great friends, I know that. But if Asahina really intended to poison Celes, why would she bother poisoning Oogami too?" Both girls' eyes lit up, aka, the one always haggling over Naegi.

Once again, with just one simple explanation, she completely amazed them with noticing such a minor detail. There was no way, even if it meant killing Celes right in front of her, that Asahina would try to poison or kill her friend Oogami. Even if the poison she used only worked on people without strong bodies and muscle, Asahina would never consider bringing any harm to Oogami, at least not unless she truly intended to kill her too.

What really got to the two girls though was Naegi pointing it out. Despite the tears, and the consistency of her "luck", once again, Naegi managed to amaze them with her line of insight. It was one of the many factors both girls cherished about her, and one they would continue to cherish for all time.

"There's no way Asahina would consider poisoning her own friend at that point."

"But...why was Celes poisoned then?" Ikusaba just had to know. Naegi lowered her head for a minute.

"Well...to be honest, I can't really say. But if Asahina didn't know about the poison at the time, then my only guess is..." The sparkle of revelation finally filled Naegi's eye whole. "Celes did it herself."

"Whaaaa?! Are you saying my darling angel poisoned herself on purpose?!" Yamada stammered. Owada rolled his eyes as he face-palmed.

"Dude...really...we gotta have a chat sometime about that chick of yours." Owada commented sighing.

"Actually, poisoning herself was part of the plan, but not to the same degree." Oogami added, catching everyone's attention. Her face winced with a little pain as she turned her head away. "She was planning...to kill me, and frame Asahina." Shivers were sent down several students' spines at they heard this, especially Asahina's. They knew she was a jerk at times, but to pull off something like this? That sounded a little overboard, even for her.

"It all started last night when I met with her..."

_***12 Hours Earlier...***_

_"S-So, you intend t-t-to kill yours-s-self then?" Celes asked in a chilling voice. Being only one of the few students in some form of clothing, which was a makeshift shirt crafted from a pillow case, it didn't help her anymore in resisting the cold she felt. Luckily, she already had the conversation in her grasp. She could already see the twitch in Oogaim's eyes, now she just needed to dig deeper._

_"W-What makes you think that?" Oogami stuttered a little. Celes grinned to herself._

_"Oh, it's j-just a little s-something SHE told me ab-bout..."_

_"I-Ikusaba told you?!" Oogami finally saw the grin growing on Celes' face, all too little, too late. She realized she just played into her little trap._

_"Oh? So Ikusaba knows t-too? How interesting."_

_"Ghhhhhh." Oogami gritted her teeth. From the Master of Lies, it wasn't surprising that she said "she" told her. With five girls over the two boys present, not to mention the fact she only met with one of the boys so far, it was easy to chance it and determine if Oogami told someone else already. "I'd prefer if we kept this private."_

_"I u-u-understand wholly." She replied with a nod. "It was easy t-to tell you were go-going to anyway, though. Having a little m-meeting with all your friends, ensuring th-that you'll definitely fix t-this by tomorrow, I've seen a few d-dr-dramas play out like this."_

_"Then you'll know why I'd prefer to keep this secret." Oogami frowned slightly as she lowered her head. "I...I'd rather keep Asahina from knowing about this."_

_"Hmm I actually d-do understand that, so I can at least state I'll be tem-tempted to." Oogami looked at her uneasily._

_"Do you want a bribe or something? As much as I'd be inclined to provide one, I don't think I have much of anything left to give you, once I'm gone."_

_"Oh, I know that. I-I was actually thinking of something else though." Celes state with a sweet smile. _

_"Like what?"_

_"Well, in situations like t-this, tradition c-calls for a Final Feast and such. With our limited re-resources, however, perhaps a simple ch-chat over tea, you, me, Asahi-hi-hina, so all of us can get acqu-quainted by end of things." She answered with a shiver. _

_"You wish to have a simple meeting between the three of us?" Oogami may not have been a fellow Master of Lies, but there was something about her voice, and not just the shivering, that didn't sit quite right. Celes nodded, still shaking, with a simple smile._

_"Y-Yes. Th-think of it as a l-last send o-off. W-We can even have some Pr-Protein P-Powder from the Ch-Chemistry L-Lab." Her chattering worsened as the temperature continued to drop. That was the least of Oogami's concerns at the moment._

_"You want...to try some Protein Powder?"_

_"I p-pr-problem?" Celes asked with a grin. Oogami just stared at her silently for a few moments. It didn't sit right with her, and if the thoughts swirling in her head were accurate, she knew Celes was too dangerous to stick with everyone else. Nodding, Oogami smiled in return as she closed her eyes._

_"I don't have a problem at all..."_

_***End Flashback***_

...

...

...

"-that was obviously a lie, of course." Oogami continued as she finished her explanation of events. "I didn't trust her. Call me a hypocrite to talk about trust to someone else, but I couldn't go by without realizing what she intended."

"You mean...S-She was going to kill you?" Naegi asked in disbelief. More confusing surrounded her as Oogami shook her head.

"No. If those were her only actions, then I would've simply allowed her to do so. For what I've done, I atone."

"S-Sakura..." Asahina teared up as she called out her name. She began to realize what Oogami might have done at this point, but it didn't matter anymore. In addition, while not being as in-depth with the detail like her, Kirigiri and Ikusaba were beginning to realize where this was headed as well.

"She intended to have me murdered, by Asahina's own hands, in the hopes of making the trial more difficult than it had to be. By having Asahina tricked into killing me, she intended to force everyone to vote for her in the hopes that some means of escape would appear on the fifth floor." Oogami paused as she closed her eyes. "At least, that's what I could tell just from looking into her eyes. "

"Dude...fucking'A man..." Owada muttered to himself Not in any of his years as a biker had he heard of something so terrible or despicable. "That's as fucked up as Monokuma!"

"HEY!"

"M-My-My s-sweet Celestia Ludenberg w-would...would stoop so low?" Yamada's expression appeared to be frozen, with his jaw frozen as in a dropped position.

Ikusaba herself found the situation unholy as well. No matter what she and her sister did, no matter what got her sister off, no matter how many twisted and sickening experiments she preformed, she had never heard of something so degrading or dark as this.

On the only bright side of things, it gave her a tiny ounce of hope for her own sister in that she wasn't this fucked up. The minute she did however, she quickly dashed it away. She couldn't have hope, not while in this game of all places. It was the enemy, and it had to stay that way.

"O-Oh my god...T-That's awful!" Asahina cried. Naegi teared up as well, the mental grasp of what Celes' plan boiled down to clouding her mind.

"B-Bu-But-!" Naegi wiped the tears in her eyes quickly with one arm, still keeping the other grasped around her stomach. "B-But I don't understand! If that's the case, then what happened to Celes then?" For reasons yet unknown to her, Oogami smiled in return.

"That's when my counterattack kicked in, or along the lines of one." She replied. "I couldn't tell if my thoughts were correct, or if I was just being blind-sighted due to recent events, but I didn't take any chance. When Asahina and Celes weren't paying attention, I switched our cups together." Asahina's pupils shrank.

"Y-You wh-what?!" The tears poured from Asahina's eyes as she listened. "B-but Sa-Sakura, t-that means that y-y-youuu..." She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as she cried. No one could.

They all knew what this meant; by switching out the cups with one another, Oogami had sacrificed her own life here for Asahina's. In reality, this was accurately playing by the rules. Oogami couldn't kill someone unless within Self-Defense, and at the same time, no one was allowed to murder anyone else except for Oogami. Technically speaking, whether or not she knew it, Asahina had accidentally tried killing Oogami, so the rules were still valid. Apparently, Oogami created a loophole in this, self-defending herself by taking someone else's life instead of her "assailants".

Monokuma grumbled internally. He absolutely hated anyone who found loopholes in his rules.

"There's still some bits I don't understand though." Owada spoke as he scratched his head. "I mean, for one thing, I get the poisoning you part, but why did Celes plan on poisoning herself?"

"You're forgetting how much Oogami requested earlier, Owada." Kirigiri answered in Oogami's place as she spoke. "If you were trying to find someone who poisoned someone else, would you bother to think of looking at one of the victims who were poisoned?"

"If both Celes and Oogami were poisoned, then Celes would've had a perfect alibi to claim innocence." Ikusaba added. "The poison probably isn't lethal without a large dosage," she eyed over to Oogami, "or three servings of it at once in this case, right?"

Oogami nodded. "It was still enough to make my stomach churn, mind you. I ended up coughing a little bit of blood as well, but nothing too severe.

"So that's why two of the cups had blood marks on them..." Yamada muttered, sadly adjusting his glasses. He finally seemed able to push passed Celes' betrayal, accepting it with a sadness in his heart. Naegi felt a little bad for the big guy. He might've acted like a perv, and to be honest, he was a bit of one, but he still tried to be nice to everyone.

"And that's the other thing that bothers mere here." Owada continued. "Why the hell didn't you say anything earlier?" The rest of the group turned their attention at this. They almost forgot an important question like that. Instead of answering, Oogami gestured to the stuffed mechanical toy, sitting on the throne.

"Why don't you ask him that?" Oogami suggested. It was enough to answer their questions, and fill everyone's recent sadness with newfound anger.

"Oh you **FUCKING** got to be **FUCKING **kidding me!" Owada's face beat red with anger.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry, are you saying this is somehow my fault?" Monokuma asked with a sly grin.

"**Yes!**" The students yelled in unison. Monokuma just swooned as he rubbed his head.

"Oh c'mooooon, I had to do SOMETHING!" He said smirking. "This trial would've been way to short if I just allowed Oogami to confess to everyone off the bat."

"So you forced her to play along with this trial until we gathered enough evidence for ourselves?" Kirigiri guessed in an irritated tone.

"Eh, more or less. If it makes you feel any better though, at least you have your culprit. And to add a cherry to the top, it wasn't her life I threatened out of this, it was you guys. Isn't Oogami just the sweetest person to sacrifice herself so much like this?" He teased.

"I swear I'm gonna rip your fucking head off!" Owada's knuckled cracked louder then any of the others had ever heard. He was pissed-incarnate.

"B-But it's still not fair!" Naegi shouted angrily with tears in her eyes. "S-She was just trying to save Asahina from ending up as a criminal-!"

"And KILLED someone for it! How many times do I have to spell it out for you people?" Monokuma groaned rubbing his head again. "If anyone disturbs the peace, they and they alone will be punished for it."

"Yeah, well fuck you! Hey Oogami, I say we fuck it and tag team this asshole and bust the hell outta here!" Owada offered. For the second time in her life since coming to this school, or at least the second time Ikusaba herself bare witness to, the group watched as Oogami bellowed with laughter at this.

"Hahahahaahaha! Huff...I appreciate the offer, Owada, but my crimes end here." Oogami replied. "Besides, even if we could pull off something like that, I doubt the others would survive what would happen." Even in these moments, Oogaim's current concerns were for only her friends. She was the definition of Noble at this point.

"...Can we just hurry up and vote." Nobody else expected such a comment from Naegi of all people. Looking back, they could all see the tears still welling up in her eyes despite the brave front she was putting up.

"N-Naegi?" Ikusaba couldn't tell if she was angry or saddened by the recent events. Maybe a little bit of both?

"I... I don't want to do this anymore...anymore than the rest of you b-but," Naegi paused to sniffle, "we have to keep pushing forward, for everyone's sake."

Kirigiri was just as awestruck as Ikusaba. Naegi had truly grown stronger over the past several weeks in this school. School wasn't the right term for this place actually, it was Hell. Hell in it's twisted, senile, form, that dashed away any ounce of hope anyone would ever had to escape from this place. She wasn't the strongest student, nor did she have the strongest stomach around here for the bloodiest of things. But Naegi still stood strong in her resolve, wanting to push passed all these negative or darkened times, and get as many of her friends out as possible.

She was stronger, and she proved it now more than ever. Taking a quick glance between one another again, Ikusaba and Kirigiri nodded mentally as they decided to help lead on.

"Naegi's right." Kirigri agreed nodding. "If we don't vote, we'll all get executed anyway." Owada turned his head away. He knew it was right, but he couldn't bring himself to nod about it.

"Tch, w-whatever..." He muttered. Yamada just continued to frown like he had been since hearing about his Celestia Ludenberg's planning in all of this. He didn't show it, but it was at least best to assume he was in agreement with it all. Out of the remaining students, Asahina was the only one who continued to look onward to Oogami with sadness deep within her eyes.

"S-Sa-Sakura..." She cried. Oogami just gave her the same warm smile as always.

"It's alright, Asahina. I'm ready for this." Oogami assured.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter one bit to a friend like Asahina. All she cared about was the fact Oogami was willingly sacrificing herself like this for her own sake. A true friend until the end, Oogami wouldn't let Asahina take the rap or punishment for something that was intended to get her killed. No matter how much she wanted to resist it, how much she wanted to say no to it, Asahina knew she couldn't. She wasn't frightened of sacrificing her own self for Oogami's sake, but she wouldn't allow herself to hesitate and forfeit the life Oogami had just given her. It would be like spitting on her actions, telling her how it wasn't important or how they didn't matter at the end of all things. If Asahina didn't accept Oogami's sacrifice by this point, she wouldn't be able to call herself a friend.

With tears dripping from her chin and snot dribbling from her nose, Asahina shakily reached over for the mechanism that would end her friend's life.

"S-Sakura...I-I'm s-sorry..." She hiccupped. The sight alone was enough to make Naegi cry silently, Ikusaba and Kirigiri painfully watching the tears pour down her face. Naegi was strong, but it would still take time to get used to the pains of life like this.

"Don't be, Asahina. I'm only glad that I got to meet the rest of you."

...

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...

_With a push and a click, the votes were registered and tallied. No one argued, no one hesitated. Up to this point, having done it numerous times, they simply did what they had to. No one did it because they wanted to, and practically no one killed another student just for their own personal sake._

_ Within this school though, there were no choices. No choice of getting out, no choice of communicating with the outside, no chance to return home. This purgatorial place itself was their home, and it would stay that way until their escape. For now, all they could do was vote and observe, as the roulettes spun in an orderly fashion._

_ Like always, it passed through the greyed pictures of their lost friends, everyone who had passed by up to this point. After this, there would be another person's face on that roulette too. And that person's face revealed themselves as the roulette came to a close. One after the other, all three bars slowly grinded to a halt._

**_Sakura Oogami: Guilty!_**

_...Strangely enough, the machine suddenly died down after the third bar came to a close. There was no confetti, or Monokuma Coins dropping from it, or anything. It just appeared to have died all of a sudden..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

"Heh?" Yamada eyed the machine curiously. "H-Hey, not that I'm happy about it at the time, b-but why wasn't there any happy tunes or party poppers going off like it always does?" Ikusaba's heart froze as her eyes glazed over.

_"Oh my god..." _Ikusaba is the only one who knew what this meant.

"Upupupu..." The rest turned back to Monokuma as they heard him chuckling. The eerie silence of the machine, followed up by Monokuma's increasing laughter, was a terrible sign to behold. "Upupupupu...Upupupupuppupuu gyahahaha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! **AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAA!"**

"H-Hey, M-Monokuma?" Owada mumbled, slightly frightened of a laughing teddy bear. "W-What's so funny?"

"**AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!**" Monokuma continued to bellow with laughter. "You fuckers are what's so funny!**"**

**"YOU GOT THE WRONG CULPRIT!**"

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A/N: And another chunky chapter to boot. Hoofta X/ I apologize if it seems rushed guys (I actually know it does), but 1- there wasn't much evidence to work with to begin with, so it was harder to keep the length up, especially now that we're coming to a lack of characters here : / and 2- 2's a number ^^.

lol, but seriously, despite the rush-ness, I think the fact I post regularly (even if not daily as of late), is justifiable, along with the long chps I post (by this limit, it would normally take the average guy like several weeks to a month per chp- I've barely spent 2 months on here and already got over 250K+ WORDS O_O_O_O!

Also, Huzaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhawwwwahaahahhhwuhuhghghhhh. X*...we've reached freaking 80+ reviews, which means another freaking bonus episode like i promised X*...lol, just kidding ^^ I think I've partly recovered from that. At this point, **Westerner** broke 80, so he's our next Bonus Episoder...or something like that XP I might do multiple chaps, i might not. I honestly don't have a problem with "lengthy" bonus eps, so long as it's not TOO LENGTHY T_T, just need to make sure I have an idea of how long it'll get first, or it'll rain in some confusion along the lines X/ *sigh*

Anyway, hope you all rate, rev, and enjoyed our latest ep ^^ Also, please support NicoB and his videos if you can. They're hilarious, awesome, and plenty of good laughs all around ^^ He's on youtube, currently playthrough-ing DGR2, so catch up with him if you can :P!

As always, leave a like, fav, and review if you enjoyed ^^!


	32. When Worse Gets Worse - Trial 4 Finale

A/N: *sigh* I love the fact there's a lot of reviews from my last chp, but it kinda loses all "zing" when they all say the same general thing and are the same size X/ For shame explosive, for shame...

Enjoy ^^!

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Someone's murdered, have a class trial, catch the culprit.

Someone's murdered, have a class trial, catch the culprit.

Someone's murdered, have a class trial, catch the culprit.

Till now, that was the usual routine in this situation. Ever since coming to this twisted school, that's the only thing that has been "lively" around here. Every several days, Monokuma would post a new motive to entice the students to start another murder. Nobody believed a murder would ever occur, even after the first murder already had. By this point, a murder was no longer surprising within these halls, but that didn't stop them trying to prevent one.

And each time a murder did occur, a routine would play out. First they discover the body, then they gather evidence and clues to the case at hand. After that, it would lead up to the class trial itself, where the heart of the matter lay at hand. Finally, it would always end with the classmates finally discovering all the facts behind the case, and discovering the true culprit.

At least, that's how it _was_ until now.

To get the incorrect verdict by the end of the class trial was to call a death sentence upon all the students. If they chose correctly, the culprit would be the one and one alone to suffer the Punishment enacted upon them, usually in some ironic form of punishment. But if they chose wrong, if they failed to discover the true culprit, they would all suffer for the crime in the culprit's place, and the culprit would be allowed to go free.

To be honest, no one knew what was more frightening. The fact that they got their information wrong, the wrong culprit, or that they would be killed in the culprit's place. it was an unfair arrangement of course, but they didn't have a choice. If they refuse, they would end up the same way in the end of all things- in death.

And now, as they all stared in horror at the revelation, they would now discover the truth of what had occurred here.

"W...W-What?" Asahina muttered softly, the fear still fresh in her eyes like all the rest.

"W-We got-..." Owada couldn't even finish his sentence. He quickly darted his eyes across the room, looking at surrounding students around them. "W-Who...Who the fuck killed her then?!"

It as impossible to tell. Not even Kirigiri could figure out who was the culprit among the remaining students. Everywhere she looked, they all had the same vacant, fearful, expression on their faces. Nobody looked excited, nobody had a knowing glint in their eye, nobody could feel anything other than fear. This was the one thing they were supposed to avoid at any cost.

"Gyahahahahahaha!" Monokuma continued to bellow in laughter. "Yes! YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS! This is my absolute FAVORITE time of my life!"

"H-Hey...H-HEY!" Yamada shouted loudly. "How do we know you're telling the truth?!" He wasn't the only one with these thoughts.

"Y-Yamada's r-right!" Naegi agreed, her voice wavering with fear. "For all we know, you're just making this up!"

"Ooohh, you'd like that wouldn't you?" Monokuma grinned. He was unable to contain his excitement as he jumped in place joyously. "But I hate to tell ya, the true culprit is still among you!"

"Y-You m-must be j-j-joking..." Ikusaba's eyes trembled. The sound of her headset going off didn't snap her out of her trance. It was the first time in a long while since they ever contacted her.

_"Don't ya worry, you and little Naegi can be happily free from what they're about to go through."_ Her partner stated. The happ_y-_going tone behind the voice didn't encourage Ikusaba in the least. Even if she did survive all this, with Naegi, after all this...how could she continue living as normal?

"B-But who was the killer then?" Oogami had to know. She attempted to sacrifice her own life for the sake of the others, especially Asahina's. Yet even after all her hard work and her conviction, it didn't seem to matter. In the end of all things, it looked like everyone would still suffer.

"Why don't you ask 'Hina?" Monokuma suggested with a smirk. Instead of the grinning smile of a victor, there was nothing but shock and fear plastered on Asahina's face.

"W-Wh-What?" She squealed. "T-There's...Th-That's just...!" She closed her eyes shut tightly as the tears sprayed from her lids. "THERE'S NO WAY I CAN BE THE KILLER!" She cried loudly.

"Y-Yeah man!" Owada squeezed his head. Knowing their eventual deaths were ahead of them, he could do nothing but squeeze his head, hoping to awaken from his nightmare. "T-There's no way it can be! W-We went through all the evidence and everything! Y-You're lying!"

"Oh, I'm not lying," Monokuma replied nonchalantly, "and believe it or not, you actually did discover all the evidence between the case and the murder, so if it means anything, kudos to you!" He congratulated. Nobody felt at ease from his cheer. "But there's one factor you really didn't pay any heed to; the poison."

"T-The...poison?" Kirigiri couldn't understand. If everything had gone proceeding as they thought, and Monokuma even declared they were correct, then why were they wrong about the culprit? Everything should've come into full circle if all the facts matched up!"

"Hey, this isn't right!" Oogami grumbled squeezing her fist. "I...I switched the cups! It wouldn't matter if Celes had lived or not, there's no way Asahina could possibly be the murderer!"

"What makes you think it mattered that you switched the cups or not?" Oogami was caught off guard with Monokuma's sudden questioning. "Are you sure you didn't just AVOID the same fate as Celes herself?"

"What do you mean?" Naegi asked, She didn't want to know the answer. Knowing the answer would lead to the truth, and therefore, everyone's execution at once. Worse, if Asahina truly had no idea of what was going on, then she would have to live with this burden for the rest of her life.

Monokuma planned this perfectly.

"Let's all face it- the basis of which Asahina was innocent was only based on your assumption that Oogami would've died if Celes had succeeded, right?" Monokuma smirked. Naegi and Ikusaba looked to each other briefly in confusion. None of the students could understand what he was getting at. "Well, let's add another piece of missing info to the puzzle, and say that _someone_ may have lied to Celes about how potent the chemicals in the chemistry lab were."

Everyone's eyes shout up at the same time. No, he couldn't have! That's what everyone wanted to believe anyway. They could not believe what he was confessing to here. Once again, like the previous trial beforehand, Monokuma had a direct hand in the proceeding trial. While they didn't know how far he pushed Celes in this case like he did with Hagakure, just him mentioning his "small" involvement already told everyone that he was the direct blame itself.

"Y-You didn't..." Kirigiri muttered in disbelief.

"Whaaat? You're not blaming me for Celes getting herself killed are you?"

"Wait, what are you trying to say?" Yamada had yet to understand what any of this meant.

"To put it simply, Celes' plan had worked to it's fullest! However, it also would've ended up killing her as well, even if she had just a single dosage of it." Monokuma explained.

"T-Then..." No matter how reassuring her sister sounded over the headset, nothing could stop the fear in her heart from causing her to shake. "T-Then t-that would m-mean..." Her eyes shriveled in fright, unable to speak any more.

"Upupupu! Gyahahaha! That's riiiiiiiiiight!" Monokuma cackled. "All Oogami did was avoid her own death, but Asahina still ended up killing Celes, one way or another!"

Silence. Everything from the sound of breath to the sound of wind, it was all silent. There was no way they could accept this reality before them. So many emotions, mostly fear, flew through everyone's hearts, changing from fear, shock, rage, and then back to fear, in an endless cycle. They could not believe it, but they were outsmarted by this sadistic teddy bear that trapped them in this murderous school, who had also tricked them into voting for the wrong culprit.

It wasn't so much the shock they had that they were going to die. What they couldn't believe is that this madman behind the machine, this one, single, bear, had the gull to modify the rules to his own benefit, and worse yet, tricked up to several of their classmates into murdering one another for his own sickening game. In addition, not only did he convince Celes into this scenario, in part thanks to the profile detailing Oogami's weaknesses that she saw briefly, but Monokuma tricked her into killing herself, not just for the heck of it, but in order to kill off Asahina as well, making this another trial where three friends would be lost.

To say it wasn't fair would be an understatement. This was beyond not fair. With his revelation, it wasn't just a matter of no longer trusting the bear, not to mention the fact nobody ever trusted him to begin with. This proved to everyone, that no matter how hard they would try to fight back, or how hard they would resist, his power to change the rules would benefit himself, and make everyone else suffer the consequences for it.

Just like they were all now.

"Upupupu!" He continued to laugh madly in the face of everyone else's terror.

"T-Th-This is bullshit!" Owada slammed his fist into the podium. "There's no way in FUCK this is fair!"

"Fair sh'mare." Monokuma swayed his paw. "Buuuuuuuut, I might have some bit of news that you guys might enjoy hearing." No one could tell if he was being honest, or just trying to get everyone's hopes up again just to dash them away seconds after. They didn't know what to think at this point. "Seeing all your darl_ing_ faces like this, made me realize, I might not ever get to have this sort of fun again. And I mean it, I'm having a LOT of fun at the moment. So, I'm willing to make a deal with ya!"

"W-What k-ki-kind of d-deal?" Naegi hesitated to ask. Her heart was racing wildly just to prevent the fear from breaking her sanity. It didn't help that Monokuma was grinning at this, but then again, barely anything he's done at this point was to help the students.

"Oh, it's a simple one, which I knooooow you guys can't resist!" He said excitedly. "Because I'm such the handsome, selfless, kind-hearted bear you all know and love, I'm willing to give you guys a second vote, since I had a teensy bit of involvement in mixing up the recent case." The heart of many students began to light up at this offer. Not once had he actually changed the rule to benefit them ever since coming here. There was no way they could resist the offer, it was too good to be true!

At least, that was the initial thoughts for several of the students, while the other half could only feel fear and pain.

"Y-You mean…You'd be willing to give us a second chance?!" Yamada was ecstatic at this. To hear that they would be given a second chance to live was too good to be true.

"Then…Th-Then we wouldn't have to die!" Owada was just as excited at this turnabout.

"B-But…That would mean…" Naegi slowly gazed towards the terrified Asahina.

The other two had almost completely forgotten what this would mean due to the brief excitement they felt. They now felt like inconsiderate jerks for realizing what this would entail. For them to live, they would have to knowingly execute Asahina, their friend. Things were not right with this in the least. It wasn't just a case of someone murdering someone else.

Asahina, a beloved and cherished friend among the group, had absolutely no intention of ever murdering someone, nor did she plan on the murder in the first place. It was only because of Celes' own handiwork, setting up and orchestrating an event that would inadvertently lead to her own death, that Asahina was on the wrong side of this trial. She had no play in this murder directly, and no knowledge of what she was doing. All she did at the time was try to make what she thought were Oogami's final moments memorable, like a good friend should.

She was one-hundrd percent innocent in this endeavor, but if they wanted to live, she would be the one who would have to pay for it.

"N-No…" Asahina shook in fear. "N-No…No! P-Please!" Asahina sobbed as she screamed. "I-I don't wanna diiiieee!" She cried.

"Asahina…" Naegi muttered as she teared up.

"I-I'm sorry, b-but…I…I-I don't wanna die…" She wept.

"No!" Oogami shouted angrily. "This isn't right! I should be the one to die! Let me be the culprit!" She demanded.

Nobody knew what to do. How could they pick in a situation like this? Asahina did nothing wrong, and Oogami was willing to take the blame for it, but their hands were tied. If they still refused to pick Asahina, they would all suffer for it, while at the same time, if they did vote for Asahina, they would be condemning someone who was completely innocent. Obviously, Monokuma knew this indefinitely. Whether or not he planned this far remained the question, but all he cared about was filling everyone with despair and anguish for condemning their own friend.

He was truly a twisted fiend.

"B-But if we don't vote for her…we'll all die…" Yamada groaned. He was feeling just as much anguish, if not more since his "beloved" Celes was to blame, as the rest of them.

"And if we do vote for her, she'll die for something that isn't her fault!" Owada grumbled squeezing his fist.

Even with his man's honor on the line, he had to help vote. With Asahina and Oogami already against it, he couldn't risk the chances if he voted for her. Unfortunately, it wouldn't matter. He could never force himself to execute Asahina after all they've discovered, especially since she was a girl.

Kirigiri herself was also at an impasse. For her, she found it mer convenient to actually vote for Asahina. With all her struggles, and all her past jobs, they always built her confidence and courage to face any incoming fear or danger, but nothing like this. No matter how sure she was that this would be the right choice, her heart felt like it was wrenching tightly, like it was her brain forcing her to note vote for Asahina either. It wasn't just a case of Asahina being one of Naegi's close friends, it was a personal guilt she felt weighing over her.

And Naegi. How was she supposed to go through with it? Every time she was down on herself, or running a streak of bad luck around herself, Asahina always tried to cheer her up. She always maintained a positive outlook, did whatever was possible to help Naegi out, and took it upon herself numerous times to encourage Naegi- even before during her old school life. And now she was expected to vote for one her closest friend who was always by her side?! This was impossible!

Amongst the group, Ikusaba is the only one who maintained a blank expression upon her face. Gazing all around the room, she could personally feel the despair coming off of everyone around her. Normally, this quantity and amount would drive her mad with endless bliss. She would relish every portion, every detail, and every ounce of despair people like them would give off. It would especially turn her on when it was people she was close to. Granted, she didn't take it as far as her sister did in terms of relishing, but it was to a similar degree. This would've been an absolute paradise for her to experience!

…So why wasn't she? She could feel the despair among her. It was the same as it always was, with the average person around her, giving off the same blissful despair she always loved. Yet, it was empty. She couldn't understand it. Why couldn't she enjoy herself now of all times? Was something missing from this scene? Was there too much at once compared to usual? It was too hard to tell. The only thing she could feel to herself at that moment…was pain. Pain from despair of all things. It was hurtful, agonizing. What happened to her?

The only thing she knew at that point was what she saw. Everyone wanted to vote for Oogami, who proudly accepted this, and none of them wanted to vote for Asahina, who feared from this. If they went through with this, they would be forever broken, possibly forever in despair. Why was it now of all times that she didn't want it?

Taking a final glance around the room, seeing everyone's tensed expressions, especially Naegi's, her mind was made up.

"Would…" She spoke up quietly. "Would you guys really…rather vote for Oogami?"

Of course no one replied to this. They weren't going to just say "yes" or nod to it. They didn't' WANT to vote for Oogami at all, or Asahina, but they didn't have a choice. If thy had to go with the "lesser of two evils", so to speak, for this scenario, they would rather sacrifice a friend who was ready for it and planed to off themselves, instead of the person who had never committed a single crime within their group, and condemn her for no reason.

Their silence was all she needed.

With everyone's head lowered, she didn't have to worry. Moving her hand closely to the right side of her head near her ear, she began tapping into the frequency repeatedly, not realizing Kirigiri was secretly watching. She couldn't tell what she was doing at first. At first, she thought she just had a simple itch or something, but after a few moments, even for a brief second amongst the dark black hair she saw it; the antennae of a radio transmitter.

It was only brief, but it was enough for her to see it. With a dozen more clicks and presses, she also realized what she was doing; she was using Morse Code. Granted, she didn't have a complete genuine idea of what she was _saying_ in Morse Code, but that quickly changed when she saw Monokuma turn his head towards her. He eyed her deeply as if trying to scan her for something. She completely missed the conversation going on in the frequency.

_"You sure you want to waste your Favor on this?"_ The voice asked curiously. They only needed a set number of button presses for her to confirm it, since she couldn't just talk in front of everyone all of a sudden. The single click of the frequency again told her the answer. Sighing, the voice groaned to themselves as they nodded, not that she would see it naturally. "_Alright, but remember, we're even now_." And with that, they broke contact.

Just as Ikusaba turned off her headset did she let out a small startled gasp. She just realized Kirigiri saw what she did the whole time, despite not having a clue what was being said. This was the last thing Ikusaba needed. Kirigiri already knew for a fact she was working for the puppet master, and that she had a complete hate and distrust of Ikusaba from the get-go. If she truly just saw her transmitter over her ear, then it was over. She would finally have the one piece of evidence she needed, in fact the one _only_ piece of evidence she needed, to reveal Ikusaba as the traitor she was.

Before anything could be said though, Monokuma began chuckling audibly again. "Gyahahahahaha! Juuuuust kidding!" He screeched. It took a few moments for everyone to process this, but slowly, one by one, the students began looking to their sinister headmaster.

"Wh...What?" Naegi mumbled. She couldn't fully accept whatever Monokuma just said with her present frame of mind.

"Upupupupu! Like I said, juuuuuuuuust kidding!: He repeated. "It was nothing more than a mere joke!"

"What...What was?" Owada blinked in confusion.

"What do you think I meant brick-for-brains?! I mean the part about the culprit being wrong!" He stammered. "You guys were right the entire time. Sakura Oogami is the true culprit after all!"

"She...is?" Asahina sniffled. She felt terrible at the time. The thought of dying for something that wasn't her fault was dreadful, but an even more terrifying thought was the opposing reality. "N-No!" She panicked. "N-Never mind, pick me! " She pleaded.

"Oh for the love of-!" Monokuma groaned rubbing his head. "Pick me, don't pick me, MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND!"

"Asahina, it's alright." Oogami said with a warm smile.

"B-But-!" Asahina couldn't accept either reality. She couldn't accept the thought of dying innocently, or the idea of her best friend taking her place. Oogami shook her head calmly as she continued to smile.

"You don't need to worry, Asahina. I can accept this gladly to atone for what I've done. Do not blame yourself." Oogami replied. Her words were calm and soothing to Asahina's soul, but it didn't prevent the burden weighing in her heart.

"Sakura...Nggghhh I'm sorry!" She cried again. Oogami just smiled at her friend, then to the rest of them.

With this, her deal with the headmaster was complete. She had taken a life in exchange for the safety of her Dojo, and now the hostages would be allowed to go free. Monokuma would not go back on his word. Better for herself, she was willing to die happily, and accept it, knowing that it meant the safety of her friends and those closest to her.

"Hey man...You really sure about this?" Owada asked. He already knew the answer in reality, he just wanted to say to a departing friend. Anything would've done for him. He also really just wanted to hit something to get rid of all this blind fury. Oogami's nod was all he needed.

"Oogami..." Naegi mumbled tearfully. "I-I'm... I'm really sorry..." She sniffled, wiping her tears with the sleeves of her arm.

"I promise to write the greatest doujinshi starring you in it!" Yamada stated, bowing honorably with tears.

Oogami felt overwhelmed with the warm feelings fluttering about. If she died right now like Hagakure, where no one could practically blame her in the end, then she had absolutely no regrets remaining. She took the opportunity look at Kirigiri at that moment.

Kirigiri was always professional about all her line of work. Whether it be through temporary alliances or partners in work, she always maintained a self of awareness about everyone she met. Just by looking at her, she could easy tell about her latent thoughts of Ikusaba, the quarrel between the two never once escaping her eyes.

"Before my time is up, I have one last thing to say to you, Kirigiri." Oogami said.

"Huh?" Kirigiri was a little surprised. If she had any last words to say, she'd assume she'd say them to Asahina, not herself. "Me?"

"Yes, you." Oogami nodded. "I know what's on your mind right now, as well as your distrusts towards certain people." Ikusaba grew slightly tensed at the mention, figuring out who she was talking about. "I know their actions and emotions might confuse you, but at the least, take my word for it. They are not your enemy, but our friend." She finished smiling proudly.

Except for the two on topic, none of the others could figure out who she was talking about. She kept speaking about Ikusaba in third person, and using "them" instead of "her". It confused them as to whether or not they were referring to one person in particular or a certain group of people. The only ones it were clear to were Kirigiri and Ikusaba.

Kirigiri really didn't know what to say, especially without blatantly arousing suspicion about the person in question. Trust? Them, as in Ikusaba? Did Oogami really want her to trust someone like her of all people? She couldn't tell what to think, but she wouldn't just refuse her outright, not when Oogami was giving up her final moments of life for the rest of the students.

Sighing mentally to herself, Kirigiri looked away with a questionable look on her face. She didn't seem to accept or refuse the request, but Oogami was just as satisfied either way. Her work was done here, and she knew her friends would make it out alive from this point.

"Promise to make this the last murder, if not for me, then for all our friends who've lost their lives up to this point. This is my final wish." Oogami request. Some had tears, others had anger, but all of the nodded to her respectfully. The sight of it all was enough to make Monokuma sick to his stomach.

"Ugh, enough of the gag fest already!" He groaned. "It's time to get the ball rolling! I have a bearrrrry fantastic punishment for the Super Duper High School Martial Artist!"

"We promise to get out of here, Oogami." Naegi stated loudly, with a serious, tear-filled, look in her eyes. "There won't be another murder, ever."

"I ain't letting another one happen while I'm around!" Owada yelled, cracking his knuckles. Like she had done up to the very end, Oogami continued to just smile happily.

_"Goodbye, my friends. I know you'll get out of this alive."_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Thus, with the flick of his hammer and the sly-as-always grin on his face, Monokuma banged his gavel on the bell that would seal Oogami's fate._

_***Sakura Oogami has been found guilty! Commencing Execution...***_

_A martial artist only strives for two things in life; to be the strongest, and protect those closest to them at all times. Oogami was no exception._

_As she kneeled there, in her dojo, she awaited her eventual demise. She knew it was coming soon. With her eyes closed, she could already sense the numerous Monokumas surrounding her, all dressed within traditional white kung-foo outfits, with a traditional sash across their foreheads, and a long white belt across their waists. All of them, three in each direction, and twelve total, kneeled there silently, awaiting their time. _

_From the small windowless opening in the wall, the sun could be seen, slowly dwindling down to it's final moments. To some, a sunset would seem like a beautiful thing. To Oogami, it had no meaning to her, whether it be about beauty, serenity, peace, or honor. All it meant to her was what it was counting down to- _

_Her Final Moments._

_With the sun setting, the base of the sun's outline touched the tip of the mountain in the far East. The time had approached. All at once, each of the Monokumas' right eye glowed with an eerie redness as if just turning on, and so did Oogami's. Her eyes burned with fury, her left eye, which was concealed by shadow, glowing red like a demons. _

_Even if these things were nothing more than mere toys by the Headmaster's own hands, she would crush each and every single one of them. All the rage, all the hatred she had for the puppet master, she would destroy each and every one of these monstrosities, and bring them all down with her to the depths of hell._

_This, was her Atonement. _

_**-Earth's Mightiest Execution- **_

_With the sound of a gong going off in the background, they attacked. Three to the left, and three to the right, the Monokumas leapt forward in the air, diving head first into the Ultimate Fighter. Oogami never expected it, nor did she need to. As any Ultimate Fighter, her reflexes were all she needed. _

_With one glorious sweep in the air with her legs, she stood her ground immediately after as the Monokumas suddenly froze in blaze. Only a second had passed before she planted her foot down firmly after using it. Immediately after, all six Monokumas exploded in a grand explosion, the blast never phasing her._

_Normally, this would be nothing for the Ultimate Fighter, but she was working with a handicap. The poison she took earlier was still running through her bloodstream. While it wasn't potent enough to kill her, it numbed her senses slightly, but enough to weaken enough against rampant Monokumas._

_The next batch attacked her from both Angles as well. If the poison running through her system meant anything, it proved itself now as one of the Monokumas from behind jumped her, grabbing her in a headlock, followed by the other two holding back her fists. In her regular state, she would've easily sensed them coming, and reacted swiftly enough to respond. _

_With herself wide open, the other three in front of her attacked. Willing to take the brunt of the attack at first, she awaited until they struck her with their paws. This proved to be a fatal mistake. It wasn't just the strength of the Monokumas she had to worry about now, but the lethalness of their claws, which pierced right into her abdomen and sides. _

_She cursed herself for letting her guard down now of all time, but refused to surrender. Surrendering now of all times was a fate worse than death. Shouting in rage and fury, her muscles tightened until they doubled their already massive size. The Monokumas holding her muscles were ripped apart as her muscles outgrew their strength capacity, ripping first from the arms' joints, and eventually ripping the Monokumas themselves apart._

_This resulted in an explosion which shrouded the entirety of the dojo in a cloud of light smoke. All that could be seen within the dojo were the darkened shadows of the current occupants. None of the monokumas were prepared, nor could they react quick enough to survive._

_One by one, with swift strikes in each of their vital joints, sparks rained out from the cloud as the Monokumas exploded one after another. By the time the smoke completely cleared, the only remaining Monokuma was the one attempting to hold her in a headlock. _

_With a furious rage, Oogami stared up at her last assailant, grabbing the small figure with both her hands, and tearing it apart right down the middle like several phonebooks at once. With the remnants of the bear in her hand, she yelled as she clasped them together, smashing them to bits which crumbled beneath her._

_Despite her strength, the poison was already taking it's massive toll on her. With the Monokumas lying dead at her feet, she took the moment to clench her bleeding side where the Monokumas struck her. Blood trickled slightly from her mouth, and more so from her opened wound. As peaceful as the scene appeared, she knew, it was not even close to over for her execution._

_And she was right._

_In one sudden burst, the wall behind her exploded. Before she could react, she was tackled straight through the dojo by a massive figure, out into the open air. This was more literal than it appeared, as compared to falling within the soft, expected grass, she found herself being scraped against the ground of the mountain's slope as she descended one-hundred feet downhill. _

_Finally reaching the bottom, her assailant rolled forward, tossing her a dozen yards straight ahead. She managed to regain her footing relatively fast for the bruises, scratches, and scrapes she suffered from sliding headfirst down a mountain. Looking at her assailant, she could tell this Monokuma could prove to be he last, greatest, challenger among them. _

_It was a Monokuma, that was to be expected. What wasn't expected was the appearance. It was built to copy her exact body type. It stood at over seven feet, much like hers. It had muscles which bulged out of his kung-foo outfit, much like hers. The only thing of her it didn't seem to copy was it's facial and bodily appearance. They still retained the same black 'n whiteness like they always did, along with the typical red glowing eye. _

_This would be Oogami's last challenge, and more importantly, her last battle. Unfortunately, she was not prepared for this. The poison was immediately taking it's effect on her soon after regaining her composure. The more energy she used up and the more injuries her own body tried to heal, the more the poison affected her strength. No wonder Celes succumbed to this so easily. If it was taking it's toll on Oogami, nobody was safe. _

_And Oogami, would be made to suffer for it, and her betrayal of the puppet master._

_She didn't even see him coming, not that she could react fast enough to counter. In one burst of speed, she already found herself being repeatedly assaulted by numerous blows from the monstrous machine. From punches, kicks, elbows, knees, takedowns, and head-butts, the Monokuma ragingly struck her with blow after blow. Even under the normal case where she would be assaulted, she would be able to keep track of the number of blows. In this case, she couldn't count single-strike blows as she lost count of the dozen hits she took per second._

_In one final strike, the Monokuma finished her. In one epic blow, the Monokuma blasted her with his combined fists, hurdling her thirty feet forward until the only thing left to stop her was the side of the mountain, spewing clouds of dusts all around her. It was there the Monokuma watched closely, only letting his guard down once he confirmed Oogami laid motionless for good. With a simple bow, he calmly walked away from the defeated warrior, walking towards the direction of the sun for his next battle._

_But his battle here was far from over. _

_Opening her eyes weakly, it's when she saw them. Memories of her friends and close-ones that gave her the strength to go on to begin with. With a single tear rolling down her cheek, she coughed. Not even being fifty feet away from her by this point was enough for the Monokuma to ignore this small breath, it turned it's gaze hastily to the not-yet-defeated warrior. _

_She remembered her friends, and all those she'd lost up to this point as she weakly stood. She had to remember everything she was fighting for. It was her final moments, but she needed to make sure she was fighting for the right cause- them. _

_Focusing her thoughts all together, she squeezed her fists as an aura of anger and torment surrounded her. She needed to remember their faces, their laughs, everything she would never see again. For those friends that were taken away from her all because of her easy-going betrayal, she had to make amends. She could not die here, not yet, until she killed this one monstrosity that harbored all her betrayal in one go. _

_This was her atonement. _

_With a loud, menacing scream, her rage boiled to the extreme, causing the burning, fiery aura around her to practically quadruple in size. It stretched a good several yards into the air itself, but didn't impress the Monokuma in the least. He also revealed his own aura, which radiated with a dazzling array of black and white. This would be their final clash. _

_Bursting with immense speed, both fighters screamed as they charged forth. The one who would survive here would be the last one standing, but only if it was Monokuma. This would be Sakura's final assault. With a bloodcurdling scream, she charged forward fist-first, electricity circulating her body. This would be her final clash, one way or another. With a surge of energy and connection of the fists, both fighters swiftly crossed each other's path, only stopping when they were several yards away from each other._

_At first, there was nothing but silence. Both fighters simply stood in place with their fists outward, bodies hunched over as they were. The sun itself was now set behind the side of the two fighters, stretching their shadows out to their limits, as far as the sight could see. After a long while of silence, with only the dust blowing in the wind, it finally happened._

_With a creak and a high-pitched moaning noise, the Monokuma began convulsing in place. For the average robot, convulsing wouldn't be possible, which is why electricity was crackling around it's body in it's place. Another twirl and creak later, the Monokuma finally exploded in one massive explosion, eradicating the monstrosity, as well as all of Oogami's past sins, in one final explosion._

_The scene would've been glorious for the Ultimate Warrior, but perhaps she already knew beforehand as she stood there smiling. She wasn't standing of her own will anymore, that was just the way her body was left. Exhausting the last of her energy in that last attack, her body reached it's limits the minute she touched the monster seconds earlier. It was destroyed, and she was no more. All she was, was a standing corpse with her fist stuck out, smiling at her knowing victory. If her ghost could see her results, she would still pass on happily._

_She had finally atoned for her sins..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

In a surprising twist, Naegi helped Asahina out of the trial room, as opposed to the other waay around. The young swimmer continued to weep and cry out, unable to accept Oogami's death, or the fact she inadvertently killed someone else in the process. It didn't matter what anyone said to her, or how much Naegi tried to comfort her, she just felt empty inside. Everyone else was just silent about it.

What could they say at this point? They had a friend who was almost tricked into killing another friend, and that same friend sacrificed their own life to keep them from becoming the culprit. It was the noblest of sacrifices, but they couldn't just say that out loud. They couldn't say anything at that time. All they wanted to do was turn in for that night.

All except for Ikuasba at that moment. She had something she needed to do, in part thanks to a last-minute message she received from her sister.

_"Hey, I need to talk to you about something important."_ That's what they told her before hanging up. She, herself, had a lot to say to her sister at this time. She's had enough.

She's had enough with the multiple killings, all the strife that keeps playing on around here, and how her sister had recently twisted the game to her own benefit. it wasn't like her, not the sister she knew. Something recently has changed her, but as to what was outside of Ikusaba's knowledge. All she knew at the time was that her sister was not the same person she grew up with as children, and she had to fix that.

It was at that time when she was walking down the hallways of the dorm rooms that something caught her by surprise.

"Hey Ikusaba, wait up!" Kirigiri called out, jogging over. It felt strange to Ikusaba, the way she called out to her so casually. All she wanted to do though at this time was get to her meeting, hence forth the same solemn expression as always.

"What do you want?" She asked with a typical groan. "I...have somewhere to go right now." Kirigiri shifted her eyes away briefly as she leaned against the wall, crossing her arms.

"Look, I...I just wanted to chat with you for a minute..." She stated.

"What for?" With Ikusaba's knowledge of Kirigiri, it couldn't be good.

"To...apologize... about the trial. " The response actually surprised Ikusaba greatly, causing her eyes to widen.

"You...You what?" Ikusaba was in compete disbelief.

"I said apologize." She repeated. "Back at the beginning, when I... pushed onto the idea that you were the culprit and all...I-It was wrong of me, ok? So... I'm sorry." She shifted her eyes while saying, brushing the hair from her eyes.

"Oh...um...thanks...I think?" Ikusaba replied in a questionable tone.

It was a bit of an awkward moment for the two girls. Not once since the two had met had they EVER said anything remotely nice to one another. They were always at each other's throats, always vying for Naegi's love and attention, and so on. This was possibly the first conversation they ever started with one another that didn't involve calling one another a bitch or an ass at the beginning of a sentence.

Granted, Naegi wasn't around at those times, of course.

"So, um..." Kirigiri scratched the side of her cheek. This wasn't easy for her to say, so with a shake of her head and a sigh, she spoke. "Look, I'm going to be honest here. I don't like you, and as _shocking_ as it sounds I get the feeling you don't like me that much."

Ikusaba rolled her eyes mentally. "Was it so obvious?" She joked.

"Yeah, well... At the trial," Kirigiri looked into her eyes directly, "I know whatever happened back there, it was because of you." Ikusaba briefly considered feigning ignorance for a moment before remembering how she already saw her messing with her transmitter.

"Yeah..." Ikusaba didn't know much else to say at the moment.

"Well... I also wanted to thank you for that. You...You actually helped us out back there a lot so... I'm willing to break it off."

"Break it off?" Ikusaba asked. "Break what off?"

"This." Kirigiri gestured all around her. "This whole "rivalry thing" between the two of us and all."

To say Ikusaba was more than surprised would be an understatement. She couldn't believe the words coming from her mouth at this moment. It was unlike anything she had ever expected. To break off the rivalry they all had up to this point, the anger that was bent up within her after all these endless-feeling days with Kirigiri, which had actually only been about two weeks, and call it all off?

She didn't know what to say. Could she say anything snidely or otherwise at this moment? If she was being serious... it actually sounded a little good to her.

"You...want to stop this rivalry thing?" Ikusaba asked to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"Yes." Kirigiri looked away again. "What Oogami said...she was right. You're not our enemy around here while playing this game. Above all, you kept Naegi from losing a close friend of hers, so... Why not a truce?" She extended her hands with a small smile. "At least, indefinitely, until we get out of here for good. I'm not forcing, much less asking, to be your friend. I'm just asking to put this behind us for now, for Naegi's sake."

Ikusaba was speechless again. Did she want this, or not? Not even she could tell. Her partner was insane as of late, so there was no telling what or how she could react, yet if what Kirigiri said was true, then she found it somewhat...peaceful.

It was a nice sort of peace, one that gave her sentience and clarity. Without having to worry about Kirigiri all the time, she could finally focus on her relationship to Naegi, and not worry about keeping her cover. Kirigiri was the only one who knew at the time, but if she promised to keep her identity a secret as well, then how could she not refuse it?! With a smile, Ikusaba slowly took Kirigiri's hand, giving it a firm sha-

*swiff*

*CRACK*

"Huh!" Iksuaba gasped as she jumped a little from Kirigiri's amazing speed.

In one swift motion, the mysterious girl quickly plucked the transmitter from Ikusaba's right ear, having dug through her hair with her own fingers, and pulled the headpiece off her side. Before Ikusaba could so much as blink, Kirigiri angrily tossed it to the ground before crushing it under her heel, making sure to ground every bit of it until it was nothing more than crumbling bits of pieces here and there.

From there, Kirigiri looked back up to her with a teethed glare. "Do NOT make me regret this!" She warned firmly before turning around.

As much as Ikusaba didn't want to admit it, that might've been harder for Kirigiri to do than she realized. All this time, ever since their endless fighting began, Ikusaba had been struggling to find some form of evidence to prove to everyone that Ikuasba was indeed the traitor. It was the one certified thing she needed to make sure she could convict Ikusaba as the culprit she was in front of everyone's eyes.

And now, she lost that opportunity. As if to prove her recent trust in Ikusaba, she completely threw away the one thing she wanted more than anything, not as much as Naegi of course, ever since meeting her. Ikusaba couldn't tell if she should feel a little bit irritated or annoyed, but it probably didn't matter at this point. She was just glad- glad to finally have this small dispute between one another finally at and end, and hopefully, a chance to reconnect with Naegi again without having to worry about Kirigiri's interferences anymore.

With a steady sigh, she made her way up the stairs once more, preparing to meet her sister.

...

...

*rattle*

*rattle*

"Huh?"

Ikusaba eyed the door weirdly as she kept trying to open the handle. The Data Processing room- the room which held the answers for these imprisoned students, and the one location in where they could finally work in peace. Having called her sister down earlier, she should've had it open for her without worry of anyone else coming down here. At the least, she could've provided Monokuma to wait outside the door for her.

So why wasn't she?

That's when she saw it. Underneath the door, a small slip of paper stuck out. It wasn't too big, just enough to catch her eye and to leave a message on. Figuring it must've been from her sister, she shrugged as she kneeled down to examine it. First she called her up to the fourth floor, and now she left her a message behind? It was all a little weird for the young soldier. The way all of this was playing out was a little confusing, but it couldn't be that bad, right? This was her sister she was thinking of, and she guaranteed upon examining the paper, that she would never doubt her again.

_***BANG!***_

...That was the last time she ever thought such thoughts. Eyes going hallow, with a terrified stare in her face, she quickly dropped everything she was doing at that moment and started heaving back towards the stairs. All that remained to prove she was there was the small slip of paper that gently floated down. Once it landed, it, interestingly enough, gently folded itself open, revealing it's horrific contents;

_**-Have you checked on Naegi recently-**_

...

...

"NAEGI!" Ikusaba cried out in terror, running down the hallways as fast as she could.

She was on the first floor after the last several minutes of running. On each floor, she kept crying out her name, trying to figure out where she was or where the gunshot came from. From all her explorations and running, she was finally lead to the only floor she had yet to check, the first floor. It was a bit surprising that a gunshot could be heard resonating from three floors down, but it mattered little to Ikusaba. A lot of things did. All she cared about was her one and only love, Makoto Naegi.

She only stopped as Kirigiri ran up to her partway down the hall.

"Ikusaba!" She yelled worriedly. Ikuasba fearfully grabbed onto her shoulders, looking her dead in the eye.

"Naegi! Where's Naegi?!" She kept screeching. "She's in trouble! I have to-!"

"Calm down, calm down!" Kirigiri yelled, taking her hands off her shoulders. "She's in the lunchroom, b-!"

"Naegi!" She cried out again, bolting passed Kirigiri.

"Wait!" Kirigiri shouted, trying to run after the quickening Ikusaba.

Ikusaba just ignored her. She had an official truce (for now), which would explain why she didn't just tackle Ikusaba or whatever, and immediately think whatever the cause of it was coming from Ikusaba. It wouldn't have mattered to her even if she did, all she wanted at that moment was to have Naegi, ALIVE, in her arms, breathing and peaceful as always. She was running so fast she almost ran right passed the lunchroom's door, grabbing onto the edge of the doorway before pulling herself straight inside.

There, she saw a horrific scene that almost stunned her; lying several yards away from her, in the middle of the lunchroom, was Naegi, lying straight on her side, and her body turned away from her. The room smelt of gunpowder, confirming the use of a gun like she had heard. The look on her face was filled with nothing but absolute terror and fear, only prevented from the fact Naegi herself didn't seem to have any blood around her. It was her only relief at that moment.

"Naegi..." She mumbled sadly to herself. She only took several steps in before freezing again, looking on ahead. She didn't think it was possible, but ahead of Naegi, was a sight even more terrifying-

Her. Her, her, and her. Mukuro Ikusaba, her and all the things she did up to this point, being displayed on the giant Monitor in the lunchroom. On numerous panels, all on the same monitor, different scenes and shots of her, and everything she did up to this point, was being posted in front of her. All her betrayals, everything she did behind the scenes, all she did for the puppet master, was being displayed in clear HD view in front of her.

It even showed various scenes of her working for Monokuma, and everything she did behind the scenes when it came to undercover work. To add terror to the indecency, much to what completely dumbfounded her, it showed her, with the blank, cold, look on her face, firing her gun into random classrooms of the school.

The other students wouldn't know it was actually their school at the time, but they wouldn't care about any of that. Firing in a school at all and into random classrooms would terrify them enough.

As a matter of fact, it did terrify them. The one sight that worsened the already-incredibly-worse situation, was the sight of the other three students ahead of Naegi. All of them, gaping up in horror as they watched the scenes play out. Betrayals, murder, deals, everything the Puppet Master had her do for them between now and forever, all the evidence they could ever need and then some, right in front of them like Kirigiri dreamed of.

Too bad, it JUST came to her right after declaring her truce with her.

Hearing the footsteps behind them, Owada, Yamada, and Asahina, looked back at her in terror, with Owada's being the only one filled with rage at the same time.

"I-Ikusaba..." Asahina muttered.

"Y-You...Yo-You've been working for the p-p-puppet master...this whole time?!" Yamada stammered.

Fear was the only despair Ikusaba could feel at that moment, and it was coming from herself. She shook in terror, unable to figure out how to reply to this situation.

"N-No...T-This isn't...I can explain-!" Ikusaba stuttered to speak.

"The fuck you can explain!" Owada shouted angrily, squeezing his fist as he stepped forth. "First this bullshit, and then you shot Naegi!"

"N-No...I-I-I couldn't...I-I..." Tears were starting to well up in her eyes.

This was too much for her. How could she react to all of this? It was like all her nightmares, ever since blending in with these students, were coming together against her at the same time! Her sister's obvious betrayal, Naegi possibly dying from a gunshot she had yet to see, and now her secret was exposed to the world that was the school.

She couldn't handle this! It was nuts! She just wanted the day to be over.

*_WHACK*_

Luckily, or not, for her, it soon did. Being hit upside the head from behind, her body lost all sense of feeling as time seemed to slow down for her collapsing body. As her vision hazed up and darkened, the last thing she saw turning her head around was Kirigiri, who gave her an apologetic look as she lost consciousness.

Ikusaba's secret had been fully exposed to the remaining students.

And the person behind the monitors could only grin with pure ecstasy...

...

...

...

A/N: ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNND another HOOFTA! As always, sorry if rushed, blah blah blah, who cares XP seriously, not going to be so bothered by this anymore since I'm posting at a FREAKIGN DAILY LIMIT ANYWAY X(! Especially when you're writing this with a crooked neck issue, a mild headache, and a soreness in your shoulders x/ really sucky combination…

And that's another trial off the list :P After this, we have 2 more trials before reaching our ENDING! *sigh* It seems just like 4 days ahead of now, it feels like it would've been two months ago that I started this long, ongoing project ^^...ehh...just guessing of course! Not like I looked up the exact pubish date or anything O_o...*cough* Eh hem...

Anyway! Up next though, we have Westerner's interesting idea for a bonus idea ^^ Personally took hours for me to be persuaded out of doing a chapter where all the luscious, hot, sexy babes were making sweet love to one another, but he convinced me he just wanted a chp with a monkey on a unicycle, so if you don't like it, blame him...*sigh*...(also jk XP)

As always, leave a like, fav, and review if you enjoyed ^^ And support NicoB's videos- adding that new bit to the end from now on ^^


	33. The Traitor In Despair

A/N: Ok, I know I promised a bonus episode here (sorry western) but I'm having trouble just trying to start it alone X/ Idk, either I need a dif idea or something else but I'm drawing a complete blank here, which is saying a lot for the guy who's managed to keep up with writing bonus-ep-plots on a day's notice, AND writing them within the same relative days as well X/

On top of all that, on a more special announcement, I've recently discovered, in part thanks to Exlposives (as in complete thanks to him XP) that DGR: Another Episode comes out THIS WINTER :D! I'm already stoked for it ^^! Because of that, I need to up the ante here and get on with this fanfic. I want to have it finished before Another Episode comes out so i can begin it within the same relative timeframe as the game ^^ And even better, if it turns out to be nothing more than a mere hoax all orchestrated by explosive, which will inevitably send me down a spiraling pit of despair where I'll never work on this fanfic again, we all know who to blame ^^!

With that being said, I'll work on bonus ep if and when I can. Sadly, I have a lot of projects and tests coming up due to being near the end of the college semester (A lot of you know how that goes X/...) so I'll be more preoccupied and busy within the last few weeks, mostly from this point to the next 2 months ahead. With that being said, again, I'll work on this when and if I can (the bonus ep) but for now, I'm sticking to the main plot. Sorry for the delay when I can or whatever, but for the time being, here's the continuation of the main plot!

Only a little more/less than a dozen (12) chapters to go ^^!

Update 11/15/2014: Ok I know and I apologize for the recent delay X/ a lot of things have come up that have been causing delays from annoying commissions that I'm forced to do, and tests/final projects since the semester is almost up X/ knowing it's been awhile since my usual quota of updates, here's a small teaser of the Flashback scene for the future chp. Hope it ties some of you over, esp those (questionable) Naegami fans ^^

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_"You want me to what?" Togami asked in irritation. He paid no direct attention to his speaker as he just continued flipping the pages of his book, reading it's contents fully._

_"I want you to help Naegi study for the Exams in the next two weeks." Kirigiri repeated, leaning forward on the table as she spoke firmly._

_"And I repeat, what?" Togami barely paid any heed to her words, much less her reasoning, as he flipped through the pages. "You expect me to waste my precious time helping some plebian, talentless girl, like her, study for something many of us are preparing for?_

_Kirigiri had to bite her lip just from lashing out in response to that. Much as to be expected of the "infamous" Byakuya Togami, the Super High School Level Heir to the Togami family. His smugness was an expectancy from someone coming from such a large influential family like his, but it didn't mean he had to keep adding salt to whatever wounds he was opening._

_Like this one, for example, with his brash words regarding Naegi. _

_She knew from the rumors and gossip surrounding the school about what he was truly referring to. With Naegi's talent having a tendency of never showing up, at least not to a noticeable degree, there were talks and rumors around the area about the possibility that Naegi had actually bribed her way into the school. While she couldn't tell who or where the rumors had started coming from, she did know for a fact that it's made Naegi's life unnecessarily harder._

_Because of the supposed rumors, anytime Naegi has even a single instance with herself, she would be the center of constant harassment and bullying. Fortunately enough, this bullying only limited itself to harassing her every time they talked, not wanting to stick around long enough out of fear of what Owada, or even Oogami, Asahina's recently-met friend, would do to them, but they always had the opportunity to pick on her via chitchats here and there. Matter of fact, they sometimes ended up doing it even if Oogami or Owada was there, although they tended to run off immediately after making a comment._

_As much as Kirigiri hated this, it was the reality of things. With this stupid rumor going around, Naegi would find it increasingly harder to make new friends around the school, even though the first year was almost over. She could easily tell no one would forget such rumors over the summer they would have off, not that she wasn't at least hoping they might._

_If it wasn't for the fact Naegi had a good variety of friends at the time, Kirigiri would be working tirelessly to try and find additional friends for her, at least those who wouldn't pick on her. She knew Naegi for who she was, not some "troublesome student who falls asleep in class on purpose". Nobody would know the truth about how hard and long she worked endlessly, just trying to fit in with the remaining bunch of students and keep herself from being expelled._

_It was people like Togami who truly irked Kirigiri though. People like him who would simply base something off mere appearance and rumors from the school, not bothering to get direct with the topic and seeing for himself. In fairness, she could somewhat understand his reasoning at least. Being a proud member of a high-ranking financial corporation, he needed to present himself as a worthy title, unable to be associated with any form of trouble, no matter how small._

_It still didn't make it right all the same._

_"She's nothing more than a nuisance upon this academy." Togami continued to insult. "Much like me, you shouldn't bother with such things beneath you, they're a waste of breath and time." _

_Kirigiri did her best to keep her fingers from looking tensed as she squeezed the tips against the tabletop. "I'm surprised you of all people haven't tried getting to know her yourself. She's really nice once you get to know her and-"_

_"And she sleeps in class due to her lack of recent sleep, which is most likely due to all the work she's trying to get caught up on due to her failing curriculum." Togami interrupted, finishing her sentence for her. Kirigiri blinked dumbfounded. It was as if he just read her mind, telling her exactly what she was about to say to him. The brief grin on his face to her confirmed how right he as. "Is my assumption correct?" He asked before immediately going right back to his reading._

_"What the-?" Kirigiri never met another person with observation skills such as him. "How did you-"_

_"I simply based it off all the possible scenarios." He answered again before she could finish. "I'll admit she has somewhat of a decent air about her, which is all I can compliment her on. It's the only reason I came to such an answer."_

_"Then why won't you help her?" Kirigiri groaned to ask. "If you know everything that's wrong with her, then why not offer your assistance?"_

_"Because I will not waste my precious time of life teaching her things she's too stupid to understand herself." Kirigiri was fortunate that he wasn't looking at her when he said this. He would've immediately noticed the split-second Death stare she had plastered on her face for the full second. "She has the capacity to do all this work and time to study, yet she completely ruins the point if she can't bother to understand these things the first time someone tells her things."_

_For the first time since they started talking, Togami took the moment to place his finger in-between two pages like a bookmark, closing the book thereafter to look back to Kirigiri. "Speaking of assistance, why aren't you of all people trying to help her as we speak?"_

_"We already are ,obviously!" Kirigiri grumbled under her breath._

_In actuality, her and the rest of Naegi's friends were diligently helping her prepare for the test, as well as helping on the different projects and extra-credit assignments for the upcoming weeks. After the state they discovered Naegi and her bedroom to be in over a week ago, Kirigiri decided to take it upon herself to call upon a group meeting, mostly consisting of all of Naegi's friends into one room._

_It was a little ironic to Kirigiri. With the wide assortment of friends Naegi had, she had at least one friend that could help her per subject. Asahina was great with both sports and health-related topics, Hagakure, despite his laidback and easygoing attitude, happened to be quite efficient in history. He claimed it was due to his ability to see into peoples pasts or something, but Kirigiri never really bothered paying attention to his ramblings._

_Fujisaki, a rather close friend of Naegi's, especially in recent times for some reason, was a great asset to her when it came to computer programing and mathematical input. Maizono, being one of Naegi's oldest friends since middle school, happened to take extra notes in class, some of which were additional topics and information related to the same subject, but none of which was ever directly discussed. She was always kind enough to make copies for Naegi, so she always had additional content to study from._

_She was more surprised than any, at least to her she was, but nobody ever expected Junko Enoshima, the Super High School Level Super Model, to also partake in helping Naegi. Kirigiri might've questioned a few of her motives, much less her methods of assisting, but she somehow managed to persuade numerous staff and teachers, many of which were Naegi's, to give her either an extension on her work, or at least additional guides to help study from. It was probably best not to ask about the details of which she persuaded these people..._

_To add to more of the surprise, Ishimaru himself started assisting Naegi too. On a curious note, he seemed to have a rather interesting hand in helping her with science, which was one of her more difficult subjects to study. Perhaps it was his attentive eye to detail, or noticing a single thing out of place that wasn't "acceptable in a school environment", but he had another talent when it came to teaching her about elements from the periodic table, as well as working directly with chemicals themselves._

_No one could entirely tell as to why he started helping Naegi to be honest. Some of them believed it had to do with trying to make amends for seeing her in her underwear a week ago, others believing it was just uncalled for a man such as himself to never assist a lady in need. Out of fear of going through one of the world's most longest, boring lectures, though, they felt it better not to ask._

_When it came to people like Owada and recently Oogami, they didn't help her directly. While the two could more than easily help her workout during P.E. and such, they were more along the sidelines of the group, working out of sight. As confusing as it sounded, this was actually more imperative for Naegi's sake._

_They took ample time from their day, during the time people were switching between classes, to keep an eye out for Naegi's daily bullies. They didn't stop anyone if they were just harassing, granted they went away upon Naegi's request and only made it brief, but they made sure that while they were around, no one was going to boss Naegi around, or physically trouble her in the least. Naegi was actually unaware of what this group was doing, but was too preoccupied with her studies and assignments to worry._

_Ikusaba was another useful help when it came to both, keeping her safe from bullying, and P.E. Aside from making sure she was never the last one left out of a group, making Naegi feeling wanted, she also helped her out when it came to indoor training exercises, and with using the weights. As a soldier, she had ample time to know the best methods when lifting weights and working out. It proved useful since Naegi had a tendency to wear herself out a little from time to time after P.E. With Ikusaba's help, she had plenty of energy and nearly twice the exercising done in the amount of time she worked._

_Thus left Kirigiri with just about everything else. There actually wasn't anything else TO help with, however. With all the main ones, math, science, social studies, etc., taken over, and with Naegi actually excelling in reading and writing, this left Kirigiri as the overall-study partner. All her friends naturally did help study with their specific subjects, but Kirigiri was the only one who pretty much studied all the subjects simultaneously._

_With this, all her friends by her side, Naegi managed to get her projects done, studied all of her subjects each and every day, and most importantly, managed to cram in at least one hour in her schedule each day to simply relax and have to herself. Unfortunately, this usually involved just napping, which was technically good for her, but everyone felt a little sorry that she couldn't just relax and do something she enjoyed doing instead._

_That just about concludes everyone's involvement in helping Naegi prepare for the test. Now all they could do at this point was wait it out and see what happens._

_"I know how you excel at nearly all subjects, even compared to those with talents around here." Kirigiri continued. Apparently smugness wasn't beneath Togami as he grinned at this statement._

_"Hmph, of course I do." He said proudly. "To fall beneath everyone here would tarnish the Togami name. I would sooner die than allow anything under an -A." Kirigiri knew too little about how honest he was being with that._

_"Look, I'm not asking you to hound her around and preach to her, just help her study every now and then." Kirigiri requested. _

_"Give me one good reason why." He blinked as Kirigiri pushed the book down onto the table._

_"One, because I can find some ways to keep Fukawa from bothering you constantly."_

_That was actually a blessing to him. Even now, as they talked, they were completely aware of Fukawa's spying on upon them. She tried pretending as if she wasn't paying them any attention, staring at the bookshelf in front of her, but after doing this for several hours, it was hard not to realize how long she had been spying on Togami, and more recently, Kirigiri. Togami couldn't help but take a momentary glance at the aforementioned girl, only for a second._

_"And the second reason?" Togami crossed his arms, raising his brow as he asked this. Instead of simply replying, Kirigiri just scoffed, leaning back up and walking away. She only stopped as she reached the doorway, turning her head back to look at him. _

_"Because, out of everyone else in this school, she is the only girl I've seen who works harder than you at everything she does." Togami took note of her last comment. "You should at least respect that." Kirigiri said before taking off._

_Togami just hummed to himself in irritation as he continued with his own studying. For the last five minutes, someone as renowned as him was forced to socialize with someone of Kirigiri's manner. Having to waste such time on such a ridiculous matter was beneath someone like him, but Kirigiri refused to leave him alone until he complied with her wishes, only because she promised it would take two minutes instead of five. Having wasted an additional three minutes, he groaned to himself as he went back to work._

_It was only four in the afternoon, so he still had plenty of time to continue studying. All classes came to a complete end at 4 o'clock, regardless of subject. While some of them did have an after-school period for students seeking extra help or studying, all classes officially came to an end at 4. And with him already excelling at his subjects, he completed his own homework hours ago, some of which was before the classes even gave the homework out!_

_Which is why he found himself beside himself as he studied in peace, working to prepare for the exams in the next two week. The exams were something he considered worthy of a challenge, seeing how they counted towards 60% of every student's grade, and how they were related to all subjects that were covered over the whole school year. He considered it a worthy challenge for himself. He didn't even care that Fukawa was naturally stalking him like always._

_...Well, maybe a little._

_It was after another half-hour passed that his attention briefly shifted to the opening door. To his curiosity, the subject of the matter half an hour ago walked through the doorway, a backpack over her shoulder, and several different books within her arms. She seemed surprised to see Togami of all people within this room. He never really understood why some girls were squeamish around him, but given his title, he assumed it was just out of respectful fear._

_"O-Oh!" Naegi nearly shrieked. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know this room was occupied." She apologized, preparing to leave the room as she pulled the handle quietly._

_"Tch, I don't own the library you dunce." Togami scoffed, leaning his arm on the table as he continued studying. "If you wish to study in the same room, then that's your option. Just don't distract me from my work."_

_Naegi was relatively surprised by this, smiling a little as she nodded. "O-Oh! Thanks then." She smiled closing the door quietly. Togami mentally rolled his eyes as he continued reading his own work. He only glanced at Naegi due to the noise she ended up causing from taking out her books and notebooks from her backpack. It was an annoyance to him whenever anyone caused the slightest distraction, but his professional(?) nature kept him from making a big deal about it._

_As she promised, Naegi was quiet during the course of her own studying, only causing noise whenever she whispered quietly to herself about information, or the noise it caused whenever she flipped through the pages. And the scribbling noise whenever she wrote down in her notebooks. Other than that though, she was true to her word._

_To more of Togami's curiosity though, she wasn't just studying through one lousy book or subject. She currently had several opened textbooks and nearly a dozen different notebooks, all of which consisted of notes for both the final exams, and for any of her current projects or studies she was focusing on. It didn't hurt to have duplicates and copies of the same notes in this case, seeing how even with the approaching yearly exam, she was still expected to take quizzes and tests for the next two weeks in different classes._

_His curiosity only continued to increase as he noticed how diligently she worked with herself. Whenever she came across a single bit of info she was taking notes on, she wrote it down in several notebooks at a times, and a paper or two of work she needed to do for her assignments. _

_He was willing to admit, to a small degree, that he was a little intrigued at how hard she worked, but refused to seem interested in her dillydallying._

_That opinion changed over time, however. What started out as a simple hour of studying amongst themselves turned into nearly four straight hours of work, leading up to around 8 that night. Not once since the work began, other than to use the facilities for a brief moment, did Naegi ever turn away from her work, or find herself getting distracted from anything outside the room. It was after the third hour that Togami shamefully admitted to himself that he was somewhat interested in her work effort._

_Obviously, he still refused to admit that outright, much less show it. He knew students like her, the ones who tried to seem like hard workers amongst others. It was just a ploy to others though to look like the "nice" students they were. He knew that deep down, students like Naegi were just for show, students who appeared to be nice in front of others, just to get away with doing stuff without having to worry about the teachers or faculty suspecting them. _

_Four hours started turning into the fifth hour, ranging the time to around nine o'clock. By this point, Fukawa had enough of her daily stalking, turning into her personal quarters for the night. Naegi, on the other hand, refused to quit. Despite the weariness in her eyes, the energy she was exhausting in her continued research, the tiredness on her face, none of it seemed to phase her on the inside as she continued to work._

_The only time she took a few minutes to herself at all were when her pencil tip broke. Muttering in annoyance to herself for not bringing a spare pencil, and the irritation in that her pencil was wearing too thin for her to re-sharpen, she tried asking Togami if he had a spare she could borrow. Being the "lovable" guy he was, he outright refused to give her one. With a puff of her cheeks and a deep sigh, after requesting briefly for him to watch her stuff before leaving, she left the room for a short while, returning about ten minutes later with several other pencils._

_It was an annoying irritation to her, but if she wanted to continue working, she didn't seem to have much of a choice, especially since Togami refused to give her one. To be 100% fair, it wouldn't have mattered if he did offer her one in her time of need, seeing how he was without a pencil at the time. With all his work caught up and finished, he was simply spending the last several hours studying for the exam, not bothering to bring a pencil with him to begin with._

_He could've at least explained that bit to her instead of remaining silent as she went down two floors to get some simple pencils from her room._

_That left the last several hours of the day with Naegi and Togami working endlessly on their own matters. To be honest, Togami had finished all he needed to study for his daily quota around 10:30 that night, yet he couldn't leave. He couldn't understand or believe that Naegi was still within the library that night, continuing to scribble in her notebooks and read through the pages. Even for a student who was simply trying to "act" like they were well-behaved, this was far beyond just a simple act to him._

_Was she actually a legit well-behaved student? That question is what kept him at the scene during the next hour. Wanting to see how far her "act" was, he feigned studying for the next hour, taking a brief moment to glance at her through the corner of his eyes every now and then, seeing just how far she was willing to push herself. It amazed him deeply that she didn't even leave to get supper that night, only having a few cookies for a snack to continue working. He would sooner die than admit, but he had to agree that she was a diligent worker by this point._

_He never took that claim back after the next hour-and-a-half passed by. Having appeared to have finished her exhausting, mind-numbing work, with a hefty and deep-hearted yawn, she immediately collapsed on the spot after closing her books for the night. Five different textbooks, over a dozen notebooks filled with words and the work she had been working on, and she finally found herself done, or she would have if she didn't collapse exhaustedly after._

_His curiosity only continued to increase as he waited several minutes, staring at her to see if she was truly sleeping. Noticing a lack of reaction from the girl who had her head atop her arms, leaning on the side of her head, he slowly leaned his arm over towards her, reaching for one of the notebooks she appeared to be working on for the night. He wouldn't believe it if he had seen it- actually, he still couldn't believe it after seeing it after either._

_She wasn't just an actor like he took her for. She was a hardworking student that was truly working hard for the last eight hours of the day. Her notebooks were filled with mathematics, equations, definitions, just about everything you would need to prepare for any and all future tests, especially the final exams in the upcoming weeks. Flipping through the pages, from his count, and his interesting ability to notice what was written within a day's time, he figured she must've filled up to thirty pages, front and back, with various notes and tips to herself to study for the test. _

_But this isn't what stood out to him._

_What stood out to him was the reality of her effort. He was only looking at one of the dozen notebooks she was using for the entire evening, and he wouldn't be surprised if he found every other notebook filled with dozens upon dozens of pages, each with multiple definitions and details for future tests. Not wanting to be one to simply guess, he found himself shuffling through several other notebooks before being convinced. Each one was just as lengthy as the last, filled and jotted with different things to know. Being the professional he was, he naturally left each notebook in it's proper place immediately after disposing of it, right next to Naegi's side._

_At the same time, he found himself a little put-off with the work too. Despite the cleanliness and order of the assignments and notes, he already drew up several different scenarios in his mind where she could've used her work and notes more efficiently to save on time and get additional work done at the same time. Fairly, it was advanced scenarios that the average person wouldn't have thought of off the bat, but that didn't keep him from his irritation._

_With all this presented before him, and the migraine he grew from playing the thoughts over and over again in his mind, he groaned in annoyance. He realized what he had to do now._

_..._

_..._

_*KNOCK!*_

_*KNOCK!*_

_*KNOCK!*_

_"..."_

_"..."_

_*KNOCK!*_

_*KNOCK!*_

_"I'm coming..."_

_*KNOCK!*_

_"I'm coming!" Kirigiri grumbled, tying the sash around her bathrobe._

_She didn't know who to expect at the time, and it was obviously too late in the day to throw on regular clothes, so she made due with a white bathrobe she had near the bed for cases like this. It did little to help the yawn that escaped her lips though, or the rubbing of her tired eye. How was she supposed to expect anyone at this time anyway?_

_...And Togami of all people?! He still seemed to be in the typical broody mood like he was usually in, not appearing tired in the least, having his arms crossed and tapping his arm as he stared at her._

_"Togami?" She mumbled, rubbing her eyes again tiredly. "What are you-"_

_"First we need to establish some rules." He stated while pushing up his glasses. "First off, we work with my schedule. I'm available every other day excluding Sunday, but this does not simply restart the order. This means I'll be unavailable on some Mondays and Saturdays."_

_"Schedule?" Kirigiri blinked her half-opened eyes in confusion. "_

_"Secondly, my hours are from 4 to 7 P.M. The time is not up for debate, and the clock will only be changed if I see fit for whatever reason, so if you are to have me help her, she works by my schedule, and no one else's. And third, knowing how you're the Principal's daughter, I require you to see to it that we have access to a classroom with a chalkboard in it. Togami finished explaining. "If you or anyone else has so much as a single questioning or complaint of my conditions, then we're through."_

_"With her...!" Kirigiri's eyes finally opened, realizing what he meant. "W-Wait, so you're willing to help her?" Togami grew a smug grin on his face as he scoffed._

_"Hmph, don't go assuming I'm willing to help for her benefit." He turned his head away as he spoke. "I'm simply doing this because of the immense distraction she causes when I'm working in the library. Nothing more." And with that, he began walking off._

_Kirigiri smiled a little to herself. She was one of the VERY few people who knew Togami for who, in some cases what, he was. Despite the intimidating demeanor, and his attitude towards others, he wasn't completely cruel or uncaring. He just wasn't the best, much less good by any degree, of showing it. But if there was one thing she was assured of, it was that this confirmed her previous suspicion of him; one which dealt with his fellow respect for other hard-working people like Naegi._

_As she was about to return to her room again, she paused suddenly as she finally noticed something else about him. "Hey, Togami?" Togami stopped partway through the hallway, turning his head just slightly to her._

_"Now what?" He groaned._

_"Where's your green jacket?" Feeling more awake than before, it suddenly dawned on her that he was in his usual attire, but was only wearing his white shirt and not his jacket. Pausing for a few seconds, he scoffed audibly again as he continued walking on. If it wasn't for the weariness and tired state she was in, she would've noticed the very faint pink blush on his cheeks as he continued walking away._

_"Just have her bring it back to me in the morning, after she cleans and irons it thoroughly." He stated._

_Kirigiri was a bit confused by what he meant._

_And Naegi would be confused upon waking up the next morning._

_She couldn't tell why, but apparently sometime during the night, someone left their green jacket over her to keep her warm through the night..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

"...Nghh..." A voice moaned on the inside as they slowly awoke. The back of Ikusaba's head hurt as she slowly regained consciousness.

"So, finally awake?" A familiar voice called out.

Ikusaba was everything but confused at the moment. Her head hurt, her vision was a little blurry, possibly as a result of strike to her head she suffered the other day, and parts of her body felt a little stiff. The most out of this were her wrists behind her back which she could barely move several inches away from each other. They seemed stuck near each other, with a strange rattling noise scraping against the sides.

_"What happened to me...?"_ Were the first thoughts to enter her head. It slowly came back to her, but in only mere fragments at a time. It was just as slow as her returning vision, which cleared at an immensely slow rate, from a hazy white view to her actual surroundings.

What could she recall? From the facts that slowly gathered in her head from the other day, she remembered several important details:

The first one was the trial that went on yesterday. Through outrageous and convoluted means, Monokuma orchestrated another murder, which managed to trick everyone into voting for the wrong culprit, even to the believed Cullprit's shock. If not for the fact he admitted to foul play, he would've thoroughly executed each and every one of those students that night, and the real killer would've fallen into a lifetime full of nothing but despair.

Luckily, or not, he offered the students a chance to re-vote due to his misdeeds during the crime and murder. The only problem was, they would've ended up sentencing someone to death who was completely innocent from the beginning, despite the technicality of committing a murder. Whether they allowed the culprit to live while they sacrificed their own lives, or if they casted their vote for the killer in the end, either side would've lived in nothing but despair.

It was only things to the miracle that was, accurately, a favor, that they managed to pull through in the end without too many regrets. Because of an ongoing history between the puppet master and Ikusaba, she was entitled to at least one favor, at any point during the Mutual Killing Game. Finding the recent despair sickening, especially since her own partner was tweaking the rules to their advantage, she used her favor to let the "true" killer take Asahina's place.

It still ended sadly, but it also strengthened the students' resolves more- a much better alternative compared to the induced-despair they would've suffered otherwise.

It was during that time that Ikusaba was questioning her own motives and resolve behind the Mutual Killing game. All this time, her life was nothing but one that was supposed to be relishing pure despair. Yet, in the aftermath of the last trial's vote, she found herself being... disgusted.

It was a confusing sensation to her, one which was still fresh in her mind as her vision came back to her. Even with the blurriness, she could easy tell, just from the mere size of her surroundings, that she was in the lunchroom still. Given her angle and position, she figured she was at one end of the lunchroom near a wall, although did feel a strange roundness pressing against her back. Was it a round chair that she felt? The haze was still too strong to accurately tell, but that didn't matter at the time.

What did matter to her was her recent disgust to despair. Why was she disgusted by it? She and her sister always shared a similar fascination with despair as they grew up, granted that her sister had a generally deeper lust for despair than she did. But one way or another, the despair she came across last night was just empty to her.

It was despair in it's typical natural form, but it didn't feel like all the others. This time around, the despair she felt was a little sickening to her. It was like instead of the usual joy and splendor she received from such a copious amount, it was actually a despair that came rushing across her in a negative format. She didn't enjoy it, and she couldn't grasp any ounce of _pleasure_ from it like she normally would.

It was just sadness to her, without the despair she knew and loved.

"Hey, you there?" The same hazy person asked. She clicked her fingers several times near Ikusaba's face, surprisingly helping her vision somewhat come back into view. "I need you to focus Ikusaba, we have to talk."

Ah. Now she could tell who it was. It was just hard to recognize it without the usual deep-toned, hate-to-death, pitch in their voice that Ikusaba didn't recognize. It was Kirigiri herself of all people. For once in...well...actually ever in her life since re-meeting the classmates, she wasn't shouting or arguing with Ikusaba at all. It was a simple and firm tone that she was using.

First time for everything, Ikusaba guessed. With her vision finally cleared, she was, indeed, in the lunchroom, and this was, shockingly, Kirigiri in front of her. She could also confirm her other suspicion in that she was sitting on the ground at this point. Turning her head back finally, she could see several rows of tables behind her. This helped her also discover that the strange feeling she felt across her back was the edge of the circle-shaped chair she was leaning against.

Also explaining the slight soreness from where it pressed against.

"Ki...Kirigiri?" Ikusaba muttered, slowly attempting to stand.

*rattle*

"Eck-!" She yelped shortly after as she immediately sat back down again. Something was keeping her in place next to the chair behind her. It only took her several seconds of feeling around to recognize the cold-steel wrapped around her wrists.

Handcuffs.

It didn't surprise her that they picked a lunch table out of all other locations to snare her to. The lunch tables within the room were rather unique in that they were bolted directly into the floors, via a single pole that connected to the center of each square table. In addition, the chairs of these tables were also bolted to both, the floor directly below them, and to the center pole of the table itself, which helped keep the table and chairs together at all times. With this arrangement, the handcuffs themselves were looped through the small opening between the two poles, which would've made it impossible for Ikusaba to slip or pull herself through. That didn't bother her though.

The only thing that rang within her mind at the moment was, why was she stuck like this?

"H-Hey! What's going on?" She grumbled slightly, trying hopelessly to pull the handcuffs off herself, or at least out of the loop that kept her near the table. Kirigiri just turned her head away, frowning slightly.

"It might not seem like it, but you're better off staying put for the time being." She stated. Ikusaba threw a perplexed look of confusion her way, unable to understand the meaning behind her words.

"Huh? What do you mean I'm better off?" She took the opportunity to examine the rest of the lunchroom, noticing a quiet emptiness emanating from the room. "And where is everybody? Where's-!"

Like a speeding bullet, the rest of her memory came rushing back towards her as her pupils shrank with terror. She finally remembered the rest of the details from the other night;

Immediately after the trial took place, Ikusaba's partner called her in to the Data Processing Room in order to have a chat about something. She was verily vague on the details, only telling Ikusauba that it was something important she needed to speak to her about.

At the same time, Ikusaba had the same resolution to talk to her sister as well. She wanted to put a stop to these Mutual Killings, at least for a short while. Doubts of despair, the same one that actually boiled and churned her stomach disgustingly, were clouding her mind recently. She was unable to tell anymore if these games were truly necessary to continue, or if they should've put a stop to these games long ago.

Something was just off about this whole thing, and it wouldn't stop bugging her!

She was hoping a chat with her sister would remedy this situation. She wasn't going to request that she stopped the games outright, knowing her sister might flip a little at the thought, but she wanted to at least try putting the game on hold for a short while, maybe give the students a little break from their typical roughhousing.

She wouldn't go as far as to ask to let the students go, of course. The outside world was nothing more than a disgusting shadow of it's former self, uninhabitable beyond measure. Whether the students wanted to accept the facts or not, this was their one and only Sanctuary throughout this Despair-filled world. There was no going back to their daily lives. They could only off themselves by this point, or continue to live and maintain a somewhat normal life, forever within the confines of this school.

That was the supposed plan, anyway.

The plan came to a brief halt thereafter when Kirigiri wanted to have her own chat with Ikusaba that same night. Although both sides were a little uneasy about the conversation, their talk brought them to bring about a permanent truce within the School's walls, at least until they got out of this place for good. While knowing they would, or at least should, NEVER escape these walls, with the confusion already clouding Ikusaba's heart and mind, she simply agreed to it. It was for this reason Ikusaba was probably kept alive at this moment.

Shortly after leaving said conversation, Ikusaba's entire world came upside-down. Numerous occurrences came about within the short fifteen minutes following that conversation. The events were horrifying for Ikusaba to recall, no matter how hard she tried to look passed it. All it came down to, was that her sister had suddenly betrayed her by displaying all the various behind-the-scene activities she did while working for Monokuma.

From scenes of her conversing in secrecy with Monokuma, to offering items back and forth between one another, some of which lead to the murders that occurred recently, to shocking scenes of horror which showed Ikusaba gunning down entire classrooms, currently unknown to the students at that time, within this very school itself.

It was almost impossible to mistake the video footage for edited software and programming. Nothing could ever capture the terrors she accomplished during her time within Hope's Peak Academy, and it was supposed to stay like that. Her sister had completely gone off the deep end to have pulled this off, and utterly abandoned her sister by this point, for whatever the reason might be.

And if none of that was enough to torment Ikusaba's entire being, then the fact Naegi was shot last night sank Ikusaba's spirit into a bottomless pit. The once, proud soldier, was unable to hold back the tears creeping on the corners of her eyes as she shook.

"N-Naegi..." She squeaked, biting her lip. Kirigiri could see the sorrow welling up inside of her, easily supporting her theory of Naegi's true assailant.

"You don't have to worry." Kirigiri's expression didn't change despite the calming tone. "Naegi's still alive." As if a fishing hook snagged her heart, Ikusaba slowly brought herself back up from the near-endless despair beset upon her.

"W...What?" Ikusaba mumbled in disbelief. She was still balancing between the small sliver of hope she felt, and the mental and emotional breakdown that would forever drown her. "Bu-But...S-She was shot, wasn't she?!" Kirigiri gave her a small smile, but was difficult to do due to the circumstances.

"As matter of fact...Alter Ego was the one who was shot." She replied.

"Alter...Ego...?"

With all the following events of late, she had almost completely forgotten about Alter Ego by this point. Having only met him, her, perhaps it, only once, she was stuck in several steps of confusion, from how Alter Ego could possibly save her, or what Alter Ego had to do with any part of this from the beginning. It was at the time, she noticed Kirigiri focusing her gaze off to the corner of the room. Following her gaze, she realized what she was looking at, and what Alter Ego had done to save Naegi.

Off several yards away from the two, about several yards away from the front of the Lunchroom door, there lied the broken components of a once-functioning laptop that had once been everyone's robotic friend. Broken pieces of plastic, chips, scraps, were all scattered about the laptop itself as it lied there, in complete ruins. She couldn't tell how the front of it might have looked, seeing how it was lying on it's front, but the blast-like mark on the right side of the laptop alone told her all she needed to know.

Whatever the case was, the laptop had miraculously stopped the bullet from hitting Naegi, at the expense of Alter Ego's own life.

"I can't help but feel responsible, you know..." Kirigiri muttered, continuing to stare at the remains of the broken laptop as Ikusaba looked back to her. "Not that the alternative would be any better, but if it wasn't for me, Alter Ego would still be alive, and Naegi would probably be there." Just mentioning how Naegi's life was saved by an unseemly turn of events was enough to shake Ikusaba's heart. She hesitated to press on.

"What...What do you mean?" She asked. Kirigiri remained silent for a brief moment, closing her eyes to relax herself.

"Remember when we separated yesterday for the Murder's investigation, and I took Naegi with me?...

_***Flashback: 18 Hours Earlier...***_

_"Ah, Naegi! I was worried I wouldn't see you again." Alter Ego chirped._

_"Hey Alter Ego!" Naegi greeted back happily. "Long time no see, huh?"_

_That would probably be a safe way of putting it. Naegi and Alter Ego had only ever seen each other face-to-face twice in each other's life- once when Naegi stumbled upon her while in the public bath almost two weeks ago, and after when the rest of the group had discovered her, being alerted by Naegi's horrified screams. It was silly at this point, to the young 15-year-old, for her to end up mistaking the laptop's head as Fujisaki's ghost._

_It also wasn't too surprising as to why they haven't seen each other in such a long while._

_In the course leading up to their eventful meeting, Naegi had became close friends with Fujisaki. Having been one of the only few people throughout her school life who were just as squeamish as her about things, Naegi quickly bonded with Fujisaki, seeing as the two had similar personalities and gender-based issues. Unfortunately for Fujisaki's, part of it was what lead her, or accurately his, trial and execution, and only after having kidnapped Naegi and attacking her beforehand._

_As opposed to what everyone had thought, Fujisaki had not kidnapped her in the end for his own personal gain. Deep down, the contents of which were revealed to Naegi via recording, he hoped to his fullest that he could somehow bring the two out of the school together. He was more torn up than anyone at having attacked Naegi, which was only due to the heat of the moment after just committing a murder. His mind wasn't thinking straight, it was hazy._

_And to his nightmare, he almost killed one of his best friends that same day._

_So, it was only natural for Naegi to have bolted from the scene in tears as soon as the video ended. She was conflicted with so many harsh and cruel emotions and thoughts, but what really got to her was what he begged her to do- he wanted her to get stronger. Strong enough to face the upcoming trials and hardships she eventually faced up to this point, in the hopes that she would manage to get out of here alive._

_Thus, throughout all she's done up to this point, it was no wonder she avoided the Alter Ego. She didn't have an exact problem with her at the moment, the real issue stood with the video she had. Every time she saw Alter Ego's face thereafter, it just kept reminding her of Fujisaki. After all, how wouldn't it, seeing how it's a complete, identical, match to Fujisaki himself, even though you could just see the head._

_But here she was now, with a slight nerve in her chest, able to stand and look at Alter Ego head on with a bright smile._

_"I'm so glad you came back, Naegi." For an A.I. Program to show just the slightest bit of a frown, it proved to the two that there was a real person inside this monitor. "To be honest...I thought you wouldn't want to see me after last time." Naegi's smile only sweetened, feeling somewhat guilty from the avoidance issue she recently had._

_"It's not your fault, Alter Ego." Naegi spoke slowly as she typed into the computer. Kirigiri smiled a little, happy for Naegi to have a little reunion with her late friend's recent creation. "I'm sorry for avoiding you for so long. What have you been up to recently?"_

_Before Alter Ego could reply, Kirigiri began typing rapidly into the computer, while speaking to Naegi about something completely different from what she wrote. "Alter Ego has been helping me collect data and information about the school." Kirigiri explained as she typed something separate to Alter Ego. Alter Ego seemed to understand what was being said as she nodded in compliance, smiling as she waited for Kirigiri to continue typing. "We've come across some interesting data about this school, but it would take too long to explain to you in person."_

_"What have you been talking about?" Naegi asked in a curious tone. KIrigiri mentally rolled her eyes playfully. Of course Naegi would immediately want to know after being told she couldn't tell her for the time being. She was such a child sometimes._

_"Like I said, I will explain to you later, Naegi." Having finished what she wrote, Alter Ego nodded once more before closing up the laptop. Smiling back to her, she carefully pulled the laptop out of the locker storage box, and held it out in an offering gesture to Naegi. "In fact, you can ask her yourself after the trial." _

_It took Naegi a few seconds to process what she was implying, looking back and forth between the laptop and Kirigiri in surprise. "W-Wait, what?! You want me to keep her after-?"_

_"No," Kirigiri interrupted to correct, "I want you to keep her with you at all times from this point onwards."_

_Naegi didn't know what to say. To be trusted with a machine like that right off the spot, one which still caused a slight ache in her heart every time she saw Alter Ego, and to trust her at all with something of such value?! Like Kirigiri said, Alter Ego was the one who had numerous data and information throughout the last several weeks, gathering it and compiling it all for the students to find a means of escape._

_To offer such a responsibility to Naegi of all people was...touching...and a bit worrisome for the Ultimate Luckster herself. "W-Wait, why me?" Naegi wasn't trying to sound like she was refusing the offer, she was just worried about something bad happening if it DID end up with her. "I-I mean- Mmh... Shouldn't you have someone...stronger, do this?"_

_Kirigiri was a bit in awe of Naegi's selflessness. She wasn't shy or afraid of admitting to her own flaws and weaknesses that she had. It was one of Naegi's numerous strengths that Kirigiri cherished about her._

_"Naegi, don't be silly. You're plenty strong, and besides, you'll have Ikusaba to help watch the both of you too." Kirigiri reminded. Naegi blinked in realization before smiling._

_"Heh, oh yeah, she would be, huh?" Naegi chuckled a little as she scratched her head._

_In honesty, this plan was a two-fold maneuver planned out by Kirigiri herself. There were two different outcomes of this following plan, both of which worked out in her favor._

_On the first hand, she wouldn't need to fret about Alter Ego anymore while she was working at this. As long as someone had Alter Ego with them at all times, she didn't need to worry about losing contact with her anymore. The recent motive behind Celes' murder cut them off from Alter Ego because Monokuma locked up the Public Bath, as well as access to any other forms of heat or hot water, but that was besides the point. She found it quite fortunate alone that Monokuma hadn't discovered Alter Ego during the recent motive, or everything would've been ruined._

_This way, as long as Alter Ego was in someone's presence, the puppet master wouldn't even think about trying to take them from Naegi, not without risking a violation of the rules._

_On the other hand, which was still to Kirigiri's benefit, this could also work to her advantage. With Ikusaba being her roommate, naturally it would be like putting the enemy into Naegi's hands at the same time. Knowing she would never hurt Naegi herself, all Kirigiri had to wait for was some instance of the puppet master suddenly "discovering" Alter Ego's whereabouts, or somehow obtain Alter Ego in person while Naegi was monitoring her 24/7. _

_The only way either scenario could be possible, was if Ikusaba herself proved to be working for the puppet master all along. Granted, this was before her grand truce with Ikusaba, hence forth she had little to no care about blowing Ikusaba's cover. All she cared about at that time was exposing Ikusaba's identity to everyone as soon as possible, especially Naegi._

_To her, it was a win-win situation. Either Naegi would do her best to keep a close eye and protect Alter Ego herself, under the guise that Ikusaba would keep them both safe, or Ikusaba would somehow deliver Alter Ego to the Mastermind behind all this, or destroy Alter Ego herself. She didn't like the idea of manipulating her friends like this, especially Naegi, but it would bring them one step closer to foiling the Puppet Master's schemes, and possibly, getting them all out of here._

_"You need to make sure you keep her with you, absolutely, at all times." Kirigiri stated handing the laptop to her. "Whether from having something to eat, or even going to the bathroom, you need to make sure she stays with you at all times, and never let her out of her sight." Naegi had a small hint of worry on her face._

_"But...does that include now too?" She wondered. "How am I supposed to bring her with me to the trial? I mean it's not like I can just walk up everywhere and carry a laptop with me you know." Kirigiri's simple smile gave her the calming assurance she needed in a situation like this._

_"Relax, I can think of a simple idea or two..."_

_***End Flashback***_

"So that's why she had her jacket with her the whole time." Ikusaba nodded her head slowly, having realized where the story was leading up to.

"With the lack of cameras in the public bathhouse, I doubt the puppet master would've suspected Naegi to have a different excuse to be wearing her jacket," Kirigiri finished explaining, "other than the idea she was still suffering from the cold."

Now, Ikusaba finally had an idea as to how Naegi survived. With the jacket concealing the laptop underneath it, her partner wouldn't have had a single idea that she was hiding something protective around her chest, otherwise she would've tried shooting her somewhere more permanent like her head. Ikusaba smiled inwardly at the thought, noticing how this was one of the very few times Naegi's title as "Super High School Level Good Luck" actually kicked in.

...That didn't ease any of Ikusaba's issues or worries though.

"But... where's Naegi then?" Ikusaba's worries only intensified as Kirigiri shifted her attention away from her. The uneasy expression on her face caused her heart to drum wildly.

"You...You can't see her." She told her calmly, unable to mask the twinge of worry in her tone.

Ikusaba's eyes widened at this statement. She couldn't see her? Why not?! She was almost killed by her convoluted partner, who completely backstabbed her to the full degree, and for reasons Ikusaba had yet to understand herself. She should've at least been allowed to give Naegi her deepest regret and apologies, at least that much should've been allowed if she couldn't explain everything.

"B-But please, I need to speak with her!" Ikusaba pleaded. "Just give me a minute to apologize at least, I-!"

"I mean you really can't see her, Ikusaba!" Kirigiri spoke in a much firmer tone, silencing Ikusaba. She wasn't trying to upset the unstable girl anymore than she was, seeing how they shared similar feelings for Naegi, but she needed her to listen to her and closely. She still frowned a little as she continued on. "Naegi's...not doing so well."

Another wave of confusion and fear swept across Ikusaba's mind again. "Huh? But...But I thought you said she was fine-"

"I said she was alive, Ikusaba." Kirigiri emphasized. The tremble in her own voice did nothing for Ikusauba's confidence, other than to inspire more and more fear in her heart. She had a small fraction of understanding of what Kirigiri was getting at; Naegi was alive, but she wasn't doing too good. And it was that factor that panicked the fellow soldier. "She's in the Nurse's Office resting right now. Owada's standing guard inside while Asahina and Yamada explore the fifth floor."

Once again, Kirigiri thought things through to a full. Like all her previous groups and pairing made before, this one was created without fear of a murder. With Owada's usual reasons, and being one of the toughest remaining students, there wouldn't be any fear of possibility that Naegi would get murdered, by Owada or someone else.

And with Asahina and Yamada being the only two to investigate the upper floors, there wouldn't be an opportunity for one of the two to commit murder. With them being the only ones up there, if one of them came back alive, it would be obvious who the killer was later on.

Another flawless plan, created for multiple purposes, and within a short amount of time.

"Resting?" The soldier questioned.

"She...She's running a fever at the time, and she's wincing in pain in her sleep." Kirigiri detailed rubbing her chin. "I'm not sure why, but...it's like something's affecting her mind itself." Ikusaba barely suppressed the small hiccup in her throat at that last word.

"M-Mind?" She stuttered, earning an un-questioning nod from the violet girl.

"She keeps mumbling in her sleep, but we haven't been able to understand what she's saying." Kirigiri paused briefly as she let out a deep sigh. "I think she's suffering from shock..." She took the opportunity to peer into Ikusaba's eyes personally.

This would be the first time she ever tried reading an emotion from the traitor instead of shooting daggers of hate into her rival's eyes. She was never one to try and understand someone who was linked to Naegi's attempted murder. In fact, she would probably do everything to make that person's life a living hell if they ever tried bringing any harm to her fellow Naegi. She was an important person to her, and before her sudden truce with Ikusaba, she would never try to understand anything about her.

Now, she needed to look into Ikusauba's eyes herself. There was something about her quivering eyes that really spoke to her, but in a hallow voice. It was like she was screaming the words in front of her, but they were coming out in a muted sound. Whatever she was trying to keep hidden, all that concerned Kirigiri at the time was the fact she had something to keep hidden at all.

It was more than enough to be suspicious.

"...Unless, you have any other ideas, as to what could be causing this." Kirigiri wondered.

To her surprise, Ikusaba just frowned as she lowered her head. She didn't understand this. Right now, Ikusaba was in more trouble than she had initially realized, and there were a few urgent matters Kirigiri had to bring up to her before she left again to investigate. Telling Kirigiri any information that could've proved relevant, or something that had to do with the mysteries around this school, could've greatly helped her recent reputation towards the others.

There was something she was hiding, something dire. But was it truly important enough to keep secret, and risk uncertain death otherwise?

"I... I can't say to be honest." Ikusaba spoke regretfully. Kirigiri tried to guess the reasoning behind it.

"I take it it's because...the puppet master?"

"I can't risk revealing too much information." That confirmed Kirigiri's suspicions. "Right now...Fuck, I don't even know what's going on anymore." Her voice trembled with sadness as she continued. "Everythings been so fucked up as of late... I'm not being informed of what's going on, and I've practically lost all connections I've had with them that I once shared." Kirigiri could hear the small sniffle in Ikusaba's voice. The only other time in her life she heard such a sadful whimper was when Naegi was found dead in the pool.

"I need you to believe me though!" She glared at Kirigiri with tear-fillled eyes. "I would never, EVER, do anything to hurt Naegi!"

"..."

"..."

"...I believe you." Ikusaba blinked at that as her jaw gaped open slightly. Was her dellusional state getting worse, or did she just hear the three little words she never thought she'd hear from Kirigiri's mouth? Noticing her recent look, Kirigiri turned her head away from the sniviling girl. "Don't misinterpret that. I only trust you by just a slim amount after the truce we made, but that isn't the reason."

"It's...not?" Ikusaba shook her head a little, trying to shake off the tears around her eyes.

"Did you forget already? You went to the fourth floor right in front of me before the incident took place." Kirigiri reminded. "I knew you couldn't be in two places at once...and I know you wouldn't hurt Naegi regardless."

There was a silent "Oh." that rang through Ikusauba's head at that. How typical of the mysterious girls with the keen sense to notice the slightest detail out of place. Being who she was, Kirigiri was almost never one to let her emotions get the better of her, save for if it related to Naegi in some shape or form. She only grew trust towards someone when they showed their piece of mind, and their behavior right in front of them. Obviously, this is why Ikusaba was at the bottom of Kirigiri's trust list at first after eavesdropping on them during a little conversation after the third trial.

No, when it came to Kirigiri, she only focused and paid attention to the facts presented in front of her. Even if it meant using another person's emotions and behavior as a resource, she trusted the evidence in front of her before anything else. Ikusaba almost thought it silly, for a split second, to think that Ikusaba's words and emotions were something that would convince Kirigiri of her innocence.

However, that didn't mean they weren't taken into account, of course. While she would never truly utilize a person's emotions and heart, unless they displayed these emotions gradually in front of her, it didn't mean she didn't consider it to be a useful resource. It simply met she needed several other details before trusting it as a resource in itself.

...And yet, Ikusaba couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt. Not in herself, but doubt in Kirigiri's own emotions to herself. She couldn't tell at the time if it was just from her current mental state, but, very faintly, she thought she could feel some ounce of belief Kirigiri had in her, in that she couldn't be the culprit at all, even if she did have evidence.

Was this what being a friend was truly about?

"So...you believe me?" Ikusaba had to make absolutely sure before getting any of her...strange feeling in her chest, up. Kirigiri continue looking away with an unreadable expression on her face.

"I believe you're not the killer if that's what you're getting at." She confessed. Ikusaba couldn't blame her for her recent lack of trust at the moment, seeing how someone close to the both of them was the root of the problem. "As to how far I trust you though, it's really hard to say. But for the time being, I think it's best if you just played along and stayed as the captive for awhile." She gave Ikusaba a cold stare. It wasn't in the sense of anger or hatred towards one another, but one indicating an important matter. "It would be rather sickening if someone went ahead with the opportunity."

The way she conveyed the word "opportunity" so vaguely, it was almost as if she was expecting Ikusaba to question it. "Opportunity?" She repeated. For reasons unknown, a heavy atmosphere began filling the room. It was like a sense of foresight, feeling the air tightening in her lungs as her heart raced. It was a sense of fear of something Ikusaba both knew and didn't know was coming, which left only dread.

"You...haven't seen the new rule, have you?" Kirigiri took her own opportunity to bring up the contents on her e-Handbook, leaning it towards Ikusaba for her to read.

It was impossible.

It was unbelievable.

_**Rule #10:There will be no Class Trial or execution for the Murder of Mukuro Ikusaba. Consider her a freebie!**_

...It was official.

Ikusaba was assured of it as she nodded to herself. At some point, someone must've kidnapped her own sister, snuck into this well-fortified facility, one with machine-guns at the door and heavy slabs of metal blocking any and all exits and entrances, someone snuck out of the view of all the security cameras between the Entrance Hall and the Fourth Floor's Data Processing Room, somehow snuck into both the Data Processing Room AND Monokuma's Control Room, both of which only her sister and Ikusaba have the keys to, and somehow either killed or kidnapped her sister, and took over the controls as the new Headmaster.

It must've been it. It had to be it! This was just wrong in too many ways for Ikusaba to count. She shook her head numerous times while blinking her eyes rapidly, thinking this was nothing more than some part of her delusion playing tricks on her at the time. Surely, if she shook her head enough and hard enough, she would snap back into reality at any time, right? It was the perfect solution to her problem!

She chuckled to herself at the time, considering all of this to be just some silly fantasy. Boy, her delusional state sure was playing tricks on her! She was positive after a certain amount of time, her mind would finally break free from this delusion, and she could continue on with her daily life alongside her sister. She had no idea about the amount of pity rising in Kirigiri's chest as she watched this.

She wasn't a mind reader, part of her didn't even believe in them, yet she could see Ikusaba's thoughts clearly through her eyes. She was pained inside, fighting against what she thought was reality and some sort of nightmare she was trying to escape. The chuckle escaping from her lips, Ikusaba's quivering eyes, were all the proof she needed. Whatever was going on through her mind at this point, it was the only way for the girl to go about without mentally snapping.

"Heh heh heh..." Ikusaba chuckled eerily. Her whole body was shaking slightly from the goosebumps spreading across her body.

"Ikusaba..." Kirigiri tried to mutter.

"Y-You're really funny, Kirigiri. Haha, such a jokester." Her eyes were glazed over as she stared at Kirigiri. "E-Enough of the jokes though, wh-what's the real problem?"

Kirigiri never thought she would do this, but she officially felt sorry for the poor girl in front of her.

"Ikusaba...This is the problem-"

"NO IT'S NOT!" Ikusaba snapped, shouting. She chuckled immediately after, trying to maintain some form of sanity and composure. "J-Just show me my e-Handbook, I-I'll prove it-..."

Kirigiri could have said something, but the silence that came from her said everything she needed. She already knew what this was.

"T-This...This is my e-Handbook...isn't it?" Ikusaba lowered her utter silently.

What was this now? Was this supposed to be the same despair that she relished everyday, wishing to share with the world? Was this pure sorrow in it's physical form, squeezing Ikusaba's heart painfully? She couldn't tell. All she could tell, was that she was feeling...empty.

It wasn't Despair.

It wasn't Hope.

It wasn't anger, denial, joy, curiosity, just about every other emotion that could come to the human heart.

Just pure and utter Emptiness.

"No one decided to go through with it, of course." Kirigiri spoke. She couldn't tell if Ikusaba could hear her or not, but it was probably best that she just continued. There was no way to deal with someone who had shattered on the inside. "We were all shocked obviously by what we saw, and Owada was furious, but no one was stupid. We aren't going to continue the puppet master's game, trust me."

Kirigiri couldn't tell if this was even phasing the distraught girl, nor could she understand why she was saying these reassuring things. Ikusaba was part of the enemy, one of the people who knew full-well of Naegi's murder by someone else's hands, and she could only feel pity and sadness for the broken girl. Her own emotions were confusing her at the same time, dealing with how she should feel for this broken girl.

Should she just forgive her for what she's done? Especially after the videos she saw, obviously not, but she couldn't hate her fully either. Seeing her like this, a hallow form of her former self, it was like watching an animal that couldn't speak. She was just empty now, and almost nobody was at her side anymore.

How should she feel about any of this?

...

...

...

It was during this same time that Owada continued to guard the Nurse's Office from inside the room. Every now and then he would take a glance at Naegi's condition from the chair he sat in next to it. And every time he did, he moaned to itself as he watched Naegi's face wince as she gritted her teeth in pain. Whether through the expression on her face or the way she winced, she continued to look in pain, the fever running over her not helping in the least.

The only thing helping to mitigate the effects from the pain and fever was the cool washcloth placed over her forehead. Having re-applied a new one just recently, she continued to flinch and moan to herself every now and then. The situation alone was enough to stir Owada's already rising anger, feeling somewhat helpless as Naegi struggled on her own.

Right now, he was more preoccupied with his thoughts on Ikusaba. He couldn't believe it, none of them could! How could they possibly look at Ikusaba's face once more without clenching his teeth in anger? Working for the Puppet Master behind the scene, massacring an entire classroom, regardless of whether he knew it was from their school or not, and after all the trust he and the rest of the students put into her. How was he supposed to feel?!

It didn't so much anger him that Ikusaba was a traitor as opposed to the deeds she committed. As the leader of one of Japan's most notorious biker gangs, he had his fair share of fights and whatnot too, seeing some blood here and there, but never to the extent of murder or death, save for one instance in his life. What truly bothered him was what else she did behind the scenes in aiding Monokuma. Did she, too, have some involvement behind Ishimaru's death? Maybe even the rest of the gang for that matter! The lack of detail to the videos didn't help his complication.

And most importantly, the number one thing that irked him beyond belief, was that she had to be a girl of all things! Sadly enough, this was his biggest concern. She was a soldier, a traitor, and a former friend, but above all, she was a _she. _How could he release his anger towards her when she was the number one thing that went against his man's honor?

Life was so unfair!

And he wasn't the only one in pain from this annoyance.

Naegi herself continued to writhe every now and then. She felt so confused by this point, but had absolutely no knowledge of Ikusaba's betrayal being made public.

All she was met with at the time were these strange "dreams" she's been having as of late. From what Ikusaba previously told her, her mind was just trying to protect her to an extent from the stress and trauma she's suffered up to this point. Because of this, again for reasons only Ikusaba seemed to know, she kept having weird flashes and thoughts throughout her mind, showing her another instance of this school in a more Peaceful time.

Perhaps "Peaceful" wasn't completely accurate, but it was much more peaceful than things in this school could ever be. She suffered the common school problems in her dreams, from bullying, keeping her grades up, trying to have an independent life within the dorms, everything the average teen would fret and worry about from time to time. While the bullying was a little disturbing to her, she knew it was a dream, because all her friends were there to support and keep her company.

The many different friends she had once come to know of in this school, and the many heartfelt moments where they were taken away from her, all by this sadistic game. Within this dream, she couldn't move or respond in the way she wanted to. It was all like watching a movie from a complete first-person-perspective, but she didn't care. In this dream, she could happily see each and every one of her friends again and again, no matter how frightening her dream had become. Fujisaki, Hagakure, everyone who had left her were back to her, and it was for this reason, she was sure it was a dream.

And yet…something didn't feel quite right about it. This was a dream. She was sure of that, further supported for her trust in Ikusaba who had convinced her this was all some "Self-Defense Mechanism" that her brain created. But the reality of this dream was the part that bothered her the most.

For a dream, this was a truly accurate detail compared to reality. She had her constant problems, constant bullying, and everything else she needed to go through in a typical daily life. It was how accurate this dream was being that bothered her though. It showed all times, both good and bad, that happened to her throughout her life, and the ending that each sequence brought her to. At first, she would pass out normally from having these weird "dream flashes", but that only lasted for the first day or two. After that, in addition to whenever she went to sleep, she kept having hess weird dreams flowing into her mind, and later on she would have exactly why she thought about earlier as a dream.

Now, she was stuck between dream and reality. Part of her felt like she was sleeping, self-aware of the fact she was asleep, but she couldn't wake herself up. It was the awareness one feels when they realize it's only a dream, and have the capacity to actually awaken themselves if they wanted. But here, she was stuck in these strange dreams, and this time she couldn't wake herself up. It was like the dreams themselves were actually forcing her to have them, but for what? Why did these strange dreams force her to stay in this slumber, and keep her from escaping back into reality?

…

…

…

It was then, in the midst of her dream, that a strange thought sudden ran across her mind.

_"Are these… Memories?"_

…

…

…

A/N: Annnnnnd another hoofta to boot! Man, I really delayed on this one guys X/ really sorry about that, maybe Westerner's at fault again somehow, but i'll have to investigate. Seriously, if not for the "Teaser" i provided two days ago, this would've been a WEEK-LONG-DELAY! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Eguhguhghguh, just gave myself goosebumps from that nightmare XO! Anyway, I also have some other Despair-induced news to announce ^^… X*…..Danganronpa: Another Episode, is NOT coming out this Winter like I was told. While not saying who's at fault here *cough* EK *cough*, apparently the person had the idea that sarcasm was useful when texting/typing back and forth between someone one another, and teased/joked about DGR:AE coming out at all. So, aside from taking and slowly rebuilding the shattered remains of my broken heart *sniff X* *, I'll be experiencing other delays due to end-semester stuff, and commissions I Have to get done with.

Hopefully nothing too long, maybe once every couple days like presently, but just to let you know so you stop worrying about checking your e-mails or fanfic to see if I posted everyday XP Just Fav me/story, and wait for the small "PING" or vibration to go off on your phones that tell ya I've posted XP

In the meantime, again, I will NOT be doing Bonus Eps for the time being anymore until this main story is done. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not trying to rush or anything, but REEEEALY want to get to the Sequel of this Fanfic, the details of which have me too twitchy and excited to keep bottled in ^^ sooooo much awesome stuff happens in it, so you'l wait and see. This way, I can take "Bonus-like" Episode requests, AND get the main story done at the same time :D (Point 1 for me ^^)

However, knowing my fans would be disappointed….I think… I am allowing requests for the various flashback sequences too, like who you want to see Naegi bond with during her Flashbacks, and/or what goes on during that time.

Anyway, as always, leave a Like, a fav, and review if you enjoyed ^^!

Stay tuned!

PS: Also another quick update, I have 2 things to get off my back (actually 3 as of now- is the term "Off the bat" or "Off the back"? Sound too similar when people say it quickly X/)

1- Some of you guys may or may not be surprised that I didn't kill off Asahina or whatever. I want to state this loud and clear: I WILL NEVER KILL OFF ASAHINA! HOW COULD I F***ING THINK OF IT ?! (seriously, I have no freaking idea why i can't curse in A/N XD!) She's like the perfect girl, and best friend of all the people there! She's perky, she's EXTREMELY funny, kind, considerate, and she has HUGE-….errr….Swirly-shaped hair…..yeah…...

lol, seriously though, how can anyone hate her XP?! She's too perky and nice to everyone, only second compared to Fujisaki (who i deeply regret killing off even now, and wished i thought of my "Make different students the killers" idea sooner X*), and she even show her bad $$ side in the 4th trial (you'll know why if you watched/played). In other words, she's perfect XP

2- Also, this is something else that's slightly been bothering me for some reason; Up to this point, I have no idea why, but I always pictured Ikusaba with long flowing hair like Maizono, just colored black. Only a few weeks ago I discovered she has bangs and not-so-long hair (least to Maizono's standpoint), and for some reason it's just been bothering me that I've been thinking of her like that XP! Idk why i thought she did to begin with (there's only a few pictures of her in-game that show her face, so cut me some slack X/), but I mostly think it's due to the picture of her in her soldier uniform on the Wiki site of this game, the way it's angled and everything kept throwing me off apparently XP

Ah's well. Just things i had to announce and get off my chest XP Stay tuned as always ^^


	34. Forgotten Reminiscence Part 1

A/N: Dun di-di-duuuuuuun! Presenting my SECOND EPISODE WITHIN THE SAME DAY ^^! As a note, today's ep is 100% flashback episode, and is part of the main plot- not even I could pretend to post an incredibly long intro and just consider it a chp itself- trust me, I've tried XP

*Today's episode was brought to you by Slim-Fast.

_Slim-Fast! _A drink made to make fat people feel a little less self-conscious about drinking 3 cans at once while ignoring the possibly horrible taste.*

Enjoy ^^!

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…

…

_"Wrong, wrong, wrong, and shockingly enough, WRONG!" Togami yelled, slamming the ruler on the desk in front of the startled girl._

_***WHAP!***_

_"Eck-! S-Sorry!" Naegi sheepishly apologized. _

_"Don't apologize you half-twit," Togami said boldly as he adjusted his glasses, "if you were truly sorry, you wouldn't have allowed these mistakes in the first place!"_

_Naegi couldn't tell if she should be more envious and happy that Togami took the time to "study" with her, or if she should be more frightened of him than the actual Exam in a few days. Between the papers that could literally determine her life and the man who angrily struck his wooden ruler with such precision and force on the desk to make a thunderclap, they both seemed just as terrifying at this point. _

_To be honest, Naegi was more surprised than any when Togami offered to help her prepare for the exam at the end of the week. No one within this entire academy had ever heard of the Super High School Level Heir doing such a deed for some people, and many more were shocked to find out that he would do it with Naegi of all people! _

_And for those of the jealous variety, all of which consist of Fukawa, who thought the two were secretly dating or playing some weird type of Roleplaying for some "Eventful Evening" she thought those two would commit by night, they were secretly determining numerous factors and scenarios, all of which either ended with ending Naegi's life, or her own life. And since she wasn't strong enough to apparently hang herself, which is actually a little bit more sad than the thought of her ending her own life to begin with, she decided Naegi would have to die somehow._

_Unfortunately for her, she was also at a cross at this. When it came to Naegi, Fukawa found herself a little put-off by her. It wasn't her appearance or the supposed rumors that came around the school, but from her personal interaction with the sheepish girl entirely. _

_Believe it or not, Fukawa was, perhaps, one of the closest people Naegi ever came across to being her first friend at this school, at least after Kirigiri of course. She didn't like Naegi. She couldn't tolerate Naegi. She couldn't understand Naegi, comprehend Naegi, try to listen to Naegi, just about everything that had to do with Naegi disgusted her to no end. Yet, she couldn't truly say she hated her either at this point._

_Whether through her own involvement or some handsome stud like her White Knight secretly playing pranks on her for her attention, which was sadly just a fantasy in her head, the first several weeks of school for the Super High School Level Writing Prodigy were filled with turmoil, and overall bad luck. From dropping her glasses to missing pencils, just about every single annoyance that could come upon an author happened to her. It was never anything truly serious mind you, but when it came to the author who had numerous complexities about her, even the slightest twitch irritated her for weeks._

_That's around the time she met Naegi personally. Despite the aggravation and suspicion she directed at Naegi during these times, she always seemed to have a tendency of helping Fukawa out with her miniscule problems. Finding her glasses amongst the cluttered ground from time to time, always having a spare pencil conveniently when she needed one, even helping her to her room when she needed to get a spare set of glasses after breaking her current one. Naegi was like a curse upon Fukawa that Fukawa herself could not get rid of! _

_She was sure the girl was scheming for something dire, doing all these favors and pretending to help her out of decency. Fukawa was just waiting for the moment Naegi announced it to her in person, having no idea almost no one would ever do such a thing. Then again, Fukawa already took the initiative to be one step ahead. Whenever a test was within the future, or Naegi seemed to struggle with something in English Comprehension, she would always provide some useful tip or advice to help her through it. Shockingly enough, this didn't just help her through the advanced studies, Naegi was completely acing the academics itself! _

_Whatever Fukawa's advice was, it proved to be a favor which would DEFINITELY make up for any and all favors she was sure Naegi would ask in the future. In fact, maybe she could squeeze a favor out of Naegi herself..._

_But Fukawa's delusionalism aside, Naegi was still the apparent center of hateful-plus-hurtful rumors, and now some form of gossip between the schools. Togami had too much pride and professionalism to let these things bother him to a certain degree, but even he had his limits. To top it off, it was what the rumors consisted of that truly brought irritation to his mind, none of which he could publicly display for image-sake. For now, he just focused his dedication to the deal he made to Kirigiri, promising to teach Naegi for three hours a day, every other day excluding some. _

_And this was where Naegi's newest nightmare/fear came from. _

_Togami was nothing like she expected as a study partner. Using a classroom he acquired for personal use, in part thanks to Kirigiri pulling some strings, having her actually work on things that didn't even seem to be __**related**__ to the test, Togami was more of a Dictator at this moment than a teacher, although the glasses on his face and the tight grip of the ruler in his hand could potentially throw some people off._

_The studies he did with her weren't anything like expected. As opposed to the typical "read back and forth to each other", "go over and compare notes with one another", and the classic "one person quizzes the other" options, he was taking this job a little too seriously. Test papers, pop quizzes, actual homework for crying out loud, and the whole nine-yards. Everything a teacher would do to personally torture a fellow student until their brain exploded, or the numbness in their head would cause their body to pass out._

_He threw these problems and assignments at her one after another, never taking the time to stop until each and every one of these were perfected after numerous hours. This actually ended up causing Naegi to "stay after class" after the three hours were up, as he wouldn't allow her to leave unless she finished these papers fully. Perhaps "not allow" wouldn't be the right term for it, but it was the closest thing to compare it to. Time and time again, he warned Naegi that if she gave up or quit, even once or for a mere second, then they would be done for good, and she would have to find herself a different, painful as it was for him to say it, "study buddy", as Naegi described it. _

_And each and every time, Naegi refused to quit or give up early until her work was completed. _

_The reality of this case of events were actually something unknown to both Naegi or Kirigiri. There was some fascination Togami found in Naegi as she worked over and over again. No matter how far he continued to push Naegi, no matter how difficult, in some cases impossible, the assignments he threw at her were, she kept pressing onward each and every time, actually breaking his own expectations of when she would snap._

_Behind those angry-looking eyes of his, Togami actually found himself to be having a small amount of fun. Like Kirigiri said to him, he has never once met someone else who would push themselves to the extreme as much as he has. To sate his curiosity, he decided to push harder and harder each time with these tests, seeing how long or how far he could push her until she snapped. A battle of his curiosity against Naegi's determination. The mere thought of that was actually exciting him a little._

_Still, he kept his professional manner at all times. Beyond the point of his curiosity, he took each and every study seriously, and refused to let Naegi ever forget that. So, with a deep hallowed groan, and a quick wipe of his glasses, he continued on with the recent developments of Naegi's latest study._

_"Honestly, I can't believe you would mess up so poorly on these papers." He grumbled. "I almost feel ashamed wasting my time on this."_

_"I-I...I'm sorry..." Naegi whimpered, looking amongst the corrected papers for mistakes. _

_This was one of the few things he needed to work on while progressing on this. As Kirigiri firmly told him, the only condition she herself had, was that he was to do everything in his power to keep Naegi from getting too upset or crying out of all of this. That was a little easier said than done for the girl who was almost as sheepish as Fujisaki. _

_To be fair, as scary as it sounds, this WAS his level of taking things down a notch. If he had truly berated her as much as he wished, she probably would've been out the door days ago, or at least sniffling in tears. He could care less about Naegi's sake, but with rumors of the two already floating about, he didn't want some additional report of a girl running out of a room screaming because of something Togami did, regardless of it the girl was Naegi or not._

_Perhaps this was some fair share of payback to him for using Naegi as a test subject for his latest amusement._

_"I-I don't know what I did w-wrong though..." Naegi mumbled looking at her mistakes. _

_Looking through the papers, as opposed to just filling in and leaving corrections to her problems, Togami only check-marked the questions which she got wrong. He felt that it would've been a little too "kind" to correct and leave the correct answers himself. Instead, he forced Naegi to re-check everything from the textbooks, not wanting her to easily skim through her notes for the correct answer, and force her to re-read any subjects related to what she got wrong. _

_This way, she would be punished a little bit by taking more time to go back and find the answers she needed to personally correct, and it would help her review any additional information for the future Exam at the same time. Of course, he wouldn't let her do it on the spot immediately after correcting. He felt it was __**very**__ necessary to berate her on every little detail as possible. _

_"What was the atomic weight for Cadmium?" Togami questioned. With his level of intellect, he didn't even need to have notes for confirmation. He was Togami- he already knew. _

_Naegi clenched her eyes a little as she rubbed her head. "Umm...I-I think it was one-hundred-and-twelve point...four...one...one?" She answered questionably. _

_*swiff*_

_The simple sound of the wind moving around Togami's ruler as he struck air was enough to intimidate the fragile Naegi. _

_"You think, or you know?" He asked, patting the edge of the ruler against his palms. All of this with the fact he leaned against a teacher's desk made it waaaaaay too hard to not mistake him as a teacher. Naegi gulped silently to herself before she spoke._

_"N-No, it was definitely 112.411." She said surly. There was obviously a hint of unease in her tone, but that was just from the trembling fear in her heart. Saying this back to herself, she looked at the question Togami marked as wrong. "W-Wait a minute-"_

_"Name several signers of the Declaration of Independence that hailed from Pennsylvania, excluding Benjamin Franklin." Togami spoke firmly with each question. Like before, Naegi closed her eyes tightly while soothingly rubbing her head._

_"Umm...T-There was George Clymer, James Smith, uhhh...John...John Morton! And another Benjamin...Benja...Benjamin Rush!" This time Naegi spoke with an assuring tone, and like before, she grew confused as he looked through the practice version of the Exam Togami made up. "B-But on here-" _

_"Give me an example of a Quadratic Equation to it's fullest." Each time he spoke with a firm tone, and another hard question, Naegi's heart raced faster and faster, some of it coming with fear. _

_"T-That one, umm..." This time she rubbed her head without closing her eyes, but did so with both her hands at once. "T-That was the one where...i-if ax to the second power plus bx plus c equaled zero, t-then that would also mean x would equal...negative-b times the greater or lesser whole value of b to the second power minus four times a times c...a-and divided by two times a..." Just picturing that long formula in her head in exact detail gave her a migraine alone. _

_What was really getting to her though were the questions he was asking. They were the same ones she got wrong, but she was sure she was right about them. She answered exactly what she had written down in each one. By this point, she noticed a small pattern where each time she questioned what she got wrong, then eventually Togami would come and-_

_"Why are you getting these so wrong?" He huffed pinching between his eyes._

_Yup, he interrupted her line of thought. _

_Naegi frowned re-examining all her work back and forth, including the questions he had yet to ask. This shouldn't be right! She was sure that she had at least half of the incorrect-question right this whole time, yet each of these were labeled as a mistake. She was frightened with an overwhelming fear at this point. The only way she could continue on was if she argued about it directly, and she feared he would quit if he argued against his word, and a little bit of his personality too. _

_"B-But..." Just opening his eyes halfway startled her, the cold look in his eyes as he stared. "B-But w-why are they wrong?"_

_"...Excuse me?" He raised his brow! How terrifying!_

_"I-I just..." Naegi looked back at the multiple pages again. "I-I-I'm sure these are r-right, but-_

_***WHAP!***_

_"Ack!" Naegi yelped in fear, the sound of Togami slamming the ruler frightening her like it always had._

_"Naegi Makoto," she trembled as she watched him tap the top of her desk repeatedly in rhythm, "are you actually, accusing me of all people, of being the one at fault here?" _

_Naegi was speechless at the cold, angry glare he had in his eyes. This was her worst nightmare. Contemplating her options, maybe failing the exam wouldn't be so bad? She quickly shook these thoughts out of her head naturally, but the fire raging in his eyes weren't keeping them away permanently._

_What was she to do at a time like this?! She knew if she argued at all with him, that he would end up quitting, leaving Naegi with one less, what she considered, friend in the school, and possibly shattering any hopes she had of ever passing this test. Someone like Togami wasn't a stranger to her- she knew of all of his achievements and role within society. _

_She's heard tales of how his brothers and sisters were all killed off, some details never fully reaching the students who passed this information, and how he was a prodigy who usurped and rose to the title of heir, an achievement as he was the youngest of his family to do. Right from birth, he practically had a talent placed on him. He would probably need it in the oncoming future as the head of the Togami Corporation._

_And here she was, about to argue to the one person who could possibly save her from the dreaded Exams!_

_She knew it was practically suicide to do such a thing. She needed this paper to be passed with a B+ or higher to pass for the first year of this recently-merciless academy, as well improving the grades she was endlessly working on day and night. Anyone in her shoes would've easy snapped by this point, but she persevered no matter how terrible it got and things always came through!...Sometimes not for the best, sadly enough, but it never got worse at least. _

_That's what she knew she needed to do now of all times. She couldn't help it, but she had this ringing beat in her heart, almost like Morse Code, telling her that she was indefinitely right about it. Her brain, on the other hand, was asking if she was completely nuts about such an idea, and her heart couldn't blame it. _

_With all her friends already behind her, and helping, the last thing she could ever do was end up blowing this chance to save her future. Part of her didn't even care anymore about passing for her own sake. That part was more concerned about the disappointment of possibly failing her friends after all the help and work they've put themselves through in order to help her succeed, obviously while still contending with their own problems too. _

_She couldn't go through with it. She had to accept the facts for what they were. _

_"Y-Ye-Yes!" She squeaked, closing her eyes in fear. _

_"You're an idiot!" She screamed inside her own head. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" This thought was being asked to both, the Naegi at this point in time, and the Naegi that as watching her through her own eyes. _

_That Naegi didn't really care as much as the Naegi before her did. To her, from what she's been told, this was nothing more than a strange dream her mind was creating just to keep her from suffering anymore trauma. But as of late, something was egging at the back of her mind that this wasn't right. There was something else going on here that the viewing-Naegi had itching in her head. She just couldn't picture the right pieces yet. _

_For now, she just waited. Waited to see this Togami yell at this Naegi, and either send the young girl out crying, or to walk out the door and slam it to leave this young girl to cry alone too._

_"Hmph, then good work." Togami bitterly congratulated with a small grin._

_"..."_

_"..." _

_"..?" Naegi blinked as she processed what he just said, opening her eyes. "H-Huh?" _

_"You passed this portion, you're fine." Togami replied crossing his arms. _

_"I... T-They were right?"_

_"Huff, yes, they were right." Togami sighed in irritation, feeling like he was repeating himself for the third time. "The point this time around wasn't just to quiz you. It was to prepare your mindset for the test."_

_"Pre...pare my mind?" Both Naegis were confused by this statement. Togami was never one to give a straight or immediate after, unless it was to resolve an issue, or after the main issue was resolved. _

_"You need to have your mind focused on this upcoming exam." He stated firmly. "They'll be throwing numerous possible categories and multiple choices to throw you off balance and confuse your thoughts. You need to be mentally prepared and determined that whatever your answer is, you don't end up second-guessing yourself in the middle of everything."_

_"Ah." Now Naegi understood, and slowly the viewing-Naegi did too. She was met with both relief and a slight bit of irritation, though didn't let it get to her entirely, as she realized things. This one another one of Togami's "infamous mind games" that he threw at her. _

_This is how the studying went with Togami. Aside from asking anything relevant to the test, he worked her mind more towards her thought process, as opposed to the actual tests itself. Thinking of different answers and possibilities, multiple scenarios that could help her mind flow the answers through her head more peacefully, these were the things he kept putting her through each time. _

_To him, it wouldn't be simple enough to know the answers, especially with someone as sheepish as Naegi. He needed to make sure she was __**thoroughly**__ prepared for this test, whether it came to the answers themselves, or Naegi's viewpoints and thoughts on the test. It wouldn't just be enough to simply know the answers, Naegi had to have the right determination and gusto in order to pull herself through each question and answer. He knew what to expect more than most other students did, and if he was going to test someone else through what he went through himself, he would make sure they copied his thinking methods too, right down to a par. _

_It did annoy Naegi a little bit whenever he did this. Being about the fifth day since he started studying with her, he's down this at least several times a day during each session. Sometimes the true purpose of each mind game, like the one he pushed her through now, would leave her stumped for hours on hand, being one of the sole causes of the extended study time._

_It also irked Kirigiri a little bit too, being one to eavesdrop every now and then, like now, on their questionable "studying". She was actually relieved that Togami thought outside the box, like she knew he would, when he decided to tutor Naegi for the Exam, but it did annoy her with the way he kept playing with her head like that, giving Naegi migraines every now and then from the confusion of it all. It made things especially confusing since he didn't warn in advance if this would be a legitimate test or some sort of mind game. _

_At least it was actually proving beneficial to Naegi in the end. _

_"So I did get them all right?" Naegi asked curiously, examining the papers once again. She was a little excited if that did prove to be the case. When it came to his Tests and Quizzes, she would always end up getting something wrong on it, no matter how many times she redid it. Being nearly the twelfth test she took at this point, it would be a nice little notice of her improvement. _

_"Yes, yes, you got a perfect score on a measly twenty questions, woohoo." He cheered sarcastically. "Now we'll move on to the next several tests." _

_"Eh...?" Naegi's eyes went blank as a nervous smile twitched on her mouth. _

_Of course. In the joy and excitement from the fact that she scored a perfect score for the first time on one of Togami's numerous tests, she had forgotten one other detail as a result- there were still two more hours of this little "Study Session" to go through. She's only spent the last hour alone fretting over test, part of which she was sure she lucked out on. _

_"Oh yes, since you seem so enthusiastic, I believe now would be the perfect opportunity to aim for three tests at once. We'll get so much more done." He grinned._

_He knew this was going to tear Naegi up inside, but he was truly curious as to how far he could push Naegi's determination, now more than ever. To him, this seemed legitimately fair. After all, she already beat his previous assumption in that she wouldn't be able to argue about her results. So far, she was on a winning streak by about seven points. She was definitely an exciting challenge to him, not bothered by the moan she let out as she dropped her head onto the desk in exhaustion. _

_Things would certainly be "fun" with his next challenge. _

_Kirigiri smiled at the scene as she silently closed the door. She was sure the two would be fine, even with whatever Togami was planning to do. She didn't need to worry about ever being noticed either. Thus far, neither of the two have seemed to pay her any attention or knowing, although Togami was more likely just ignoring it, seeing how he was directed towards the door while Naegi's back was turned to her. _

_She had a feeling she could leave the two alone from now on until the exams. With Togami's personality and overall influence on anyone near him, she was a little worried at first at what he might end up doing to Naegi, despite personally asking him herself to help tutor Naegi. Just because she thought it was a good idea, doesn't mean she had to be fine with it, right? She at least kept telling herself that. _

_"You ASS!" A familiar voice shouted from down the hallway. _

_"Let go of me you dumbass!" Another voice shouted, both, angrily and panicked. _

_And now Kirigiri didn't really care what she was telling herself anymore. Seeing how another issue had just brought itself up, at a rather convenient timing, she decided to go along and see what the new problem was. Luckily for her, it didn't take too long to find the problem, seeing how it was only several yards down the hall away from her. _

_Whatever the issue was, it revolved around Ikusaba glaring ahead of her from behind an angry Owada, who apparently had some red-haired dude and a rather LARGE student, pinned against the lockers by the collars of their shirts. Kirigiri had a pretty good idea that whatever was going on, it would be a misunderstanding, causing her to sigh as she walked over. _

_"What's going on here?" She groaned. _

_"Oh, hey Kirigiri." Ikusaba greeted briefly. "I was just determining which one to kill first. You have any preference?" She cracked her knuckles while asking._

_"Kill?" She never pictured Ikusaba being so blunt about murder, even though she was a soldier. "Dare I ask, why?"_

_"Where do you think those fucking rumors about Naegi came from?!" Owada grumbled back, never taking his glare off the two._

_"I already told you you dumbass," Leon yelled again, "we didn't start the rumors, we only started spreading them!"_

_"H-He-He's right!" Yamada squealed terrified. "H-How were we supposed to know it would get out of hand like this? W-We only told, like, two people!"_

_"If you wanna blame somebody, blame the idiots on my team!" Leon added. "I only told them about it, I didn't expect them to mess shit up like this."_

_"Bullshit!" Ikusaba snapped back before Owada could. "You two totally messed up Naegi's life because of this!"_

_"Do you have any idea how much shit Naegi goes through because of you two now?" Owada asked tightening his grip. _

_"For the long of..." Kirigiri muttered with a sigh. "Owada, can you please let the two go already?" Both currently-pissed students looked back to her in shock. Being one of Naegi's closer friends, they figured she'd be just as pissed as they were, if not more. _

_"What are you nuts?!" He stammered. "Do you have any idea how long it took to find these two-"_

_"We spread them, not started." Yamada quickly interrupted._

_"Fuck I care!" Owada yelled back, frightening the chubby nerd even more. "Start 'em, spread 'em, who cares!"_

_"Owada..." Kirigiri groaned again. "Let them go, then I can explain why these two can't be the ones who started the rumors._

_ With a grumble and the roll of his eyes, Owada growled angrily as he dropped the two where they were. They didn't have to worry about falling that much, just being a few inches off the ground made it easy for them to land on their feet. Both of them had different reactions to the unexpected aftermath, Leon grumbling to himself as he straightened out hos clothes again, while Yamada thanked god for still being alive, wiping the sweat on his brow with a cloth._

_"You're a lifesaver, thank you thank you thank you!" Yamada sputtered, bowing endlessly. _

_"Tch, least one of you guys have something going on in your head." Leon commented, taking a moment to get a crick out of his neck. "And would someone tell us what the fuck the problem is?"_

_"Or why you think these two are actually innocent?" Ikusaba followed with a question. _

_Kirigiri was a little ashamed of the two. Unlike her, she figured Ikusaba and Owada never really were good at having conversations or starting a relationship with other people. _

_"Because, if you two had bothered getting to know these two better, you'd know they would never intentionally hurt Naegi." She replied calmly. _

_"I've never even met the guy before." Leon stated. Those six words alone easily told Owada and Ikusaba what Kirigiri was getting at._

_"M-Me neither!" Yamada continued wiping the sweat from his forehead, the stress of the situation having yet to calm his pacing heart. _

_ "I was just spreading information I got, I didn't know it was going to ruin his life or whatever. I wouldn't have even helped spread them unless the guy was a dick."_

_"Uh huh..." Ikusaba mumbled, nodding nonchalantly with an open mouth. "So that's why Kirigiri knew..."_

_"Would you quit turning words into a puzzle and just tell me why the fuck we're suddenly innocent?" Leon groaned. _

_Getting suddenly caught off guard and pressed against a locker wasn't exactly on his agenda for the day. He especially didn't see some fat guy getting pressed along a locker right next to him at the same time! If it was bullying, it was a different variety than he'd picture, seeing, what was beforehand, a single bully bullying two people at once. And now he's realizing that whatever the problem was to begin with, the two who started it ended up having the wrong guy anyway. He deserved some answers!_

_"Because, for your information, Naegi happens to be a girl."_

_Yup, that did it. One quick and small burst of realization was all it took to cause both men's jaws to drop simultaneously, their eyes going blank by that one simple statement._

_"W-Wh-Wh-Wh-Whaaaat?" Leon stuttered as his jaw continued to stay in it's dropped-like state. _

_"You guys didn't know Naegi was a she, did you?" Ikusaba questioned._

_"Ah...Ah...Ah...AHHHHHH FUCK! I'M A DOUCHE NOW!" Leon shouted with regret as he squeezed his palms tightly against his head._

_"M-Ma-Master Makoto N-Naegi i-i-is a guy?!" Yamada's spirit was crushed even more._

_It was obvious that these two were completely innocent now. They both had the assured backgrounds to prove it._

_Leon Kuwata, the Super High School Level Baseball Player. He was practically Captain of Hope's Peaks best team, practically, being the keyword. He was never really interested in sports that much, only doing it every now and then as a hobby, and never expecting to really make a career out of it, despite the school wanting him to. Because of it, he often slacked off during practice and didn't really care much about the games. _

_Then again, it didn't help much that they won every game they played because of him anyway._

_What was his real ambition, you may ask? The same ambition just about 80% of men across the Earth all have: to start up an infamous Rock-Star Band and become world famous! Fame, fortune, and most importantly, ladies. Everything a man could dream of having just by being in one simple band. It was his wish, his dream. He even wanted to change his acquired title to the "Super High School Level Rock Star" at some point, but the school wouldn't let him to his disappointment. _

_He could admit he wasn't that good of a Rocker, but who cared? He was determined to just practice and practice like everyone should, and guaranteed to himself that some day, he would make it to the big leagues, non-baseball wise, and make his dream come true. Up there, everything would be waiting for him, especially the girls. Just picturing each and every single day surrounded by gorgeous women who wanted to be with him, it was only natural to understand that he wouldn't have the jerky attitude that would push women away._

_And then there was Yamada...enough said. He was a geek, a nerd, or a dork, whichever you wanted to describe someone like him as. He even earned the title from various rumors as well, earning the given-title "Dork Supreme", a comment that crushed him on the inside. When it came to people like him, he deeply cared about trying to acquire the legendary treasure that was a woman's heart, among other things, and more importantly, a girlfriend. _

_He knew that the only way he would ever manage to obtain a girlfriend is if one of two different things happened; 1- he lost over five-hundred pounds and built the most irresistible muscles known to man, preferably the kind you could grate cheese across. That was never going to happen of course, so he went with option 2- find a kind-hearted woman who didn't care about physical appearance, god help him find wherever that woman might be, and show to her his sweet and sensitive side that she would fall madly in love with. _

_Either way the two looked at it, they officially screwed up big time. This wasn't some simple matter of something like Owada's "Man's Honor", this was a more serious matter than anyone could understand about them. With their attitude being one of the most important factors of their wishful future, they could never be the same again if word got out about who spread the rumors to begin with. Whether or not it ruined the life of a good or terrible girl, the latter of which was, regrettably to them, not the case, they could not let anyone else know this before they fixed things up!_

_This is exactly why Kirigiri _**_knew_**_ they couldn't be the culprits._

_"Fuck! Where is she man?!" Leon panicked looking around. "I need to set things straight!"_

_"Oh dear god, please forgive meeee!" Yamada prayed as the tears comically flowed from his eyes._

_These two definitely weren't the culprits._

_"If you two really want to make up for it, then tell us who did start them." Kirigiri offered. Naturally none of the two so much as thought about refusing this request, which supported Ikusaba's and Owada's belief in them. While it did ease their feelings of them being the culprits, it didn't help the annoyance they, and several others of Naegi's friends, went through to figure out who did it to begin with. They were just back at square one, sadly enough._

_"W-We don't know man." Leon groaned. "Like I said, we just ended up spreading the rumors by accident, but we don't know who actually started it."_

_"Didn't the same person just tell you themselves?" Ikusaba was a little confused with this. Seeing how the two did appear to know the other did spread the rumors around, she'd figured they would've met with the same person who started it too._

_"Of course we didn't!" Yamada whined. "Don't you think we'd tell you right away if it meant making amends?!"_

_"Geh, this is bull man..." Owada groaned rubbing his head. What person wouldn't be irritated after spending the amount of time he did to find the asshole, just to realize it was all for naught? "We've spent weeks trying to find the fucker that started all this." _

_"Well hey, I'd help you out if I could now!" Leon assured. Ruining a girl's life would never make him a successful Rock star. If someone else like Maizono discovered this, not even realizing at this point that her friend was the same person who's life he ruined, any possibility of a relationship would shatter, far beyond what he even realized. "Can't you just ask the guys who started this rumor and ask around from there?"_

_"That's not the main issue here." Ikusaba stated firmly. "The final Exams are at the end of this week, and the school year ends two weeks after, both weeks having shorter days too."_

_"We won't be able to gather any information on the days off since the students tend to leave the school grounds," Kirigiri continued, rubbing her chin in thought, "and if we don't figure out who started the rumors and cleared them up before the year ends, Naegi could have a permanent mark on herself that'll disgust everyone else in the school for the rest of her school life. Oh, but don't let the idea of ruining her life get you down or anything." _

_Ikusaba smiled on the inside, having the same mindset going on at the moment as Kirigiri. Both girls knew with a comment like that looming over their heads, it would gnaw away at the insides of their mind, possibly forever if they failed to clear up these false rumors. It was a fitting punishment, a small ounce of payback, for the two who greatly advertised the rumors about Naegi. It would be much worse too if they couldn't fix the dilemma before it became permanent. They deserved at least THAT much for all the trouble. _

_The expressions on their faces were also priceless. They knew what they did was wrong, and they were cursing their existence for the numerous possible outcomes that resulted in destroying Naegi's life. It wouldn't just be the end of her life, but theirs as well. _

_The only thing keeping them alive on the inside at this point was the fact that most people partly believed the rumors, not knowing it was just some lie. If it was discovered that they started these accursed rumors, and ruined a girl's life because of it, their lives would forever be cursed in return. It was a double-loss situation- either they helped fixed Naegi's problem too, or all three of them would suffer for the rest of their lives._

_"W-Well...god damn it..." Leon groaned pulling his hair. "Isn't there something else we could do? Like some other way to figure out who started the rumors?"_

_"Don't you think we already tried that?" Owada rolled his eyes with a huff. "We don't even know if it a student actually started these rumors at all!"_

_"Heh?" Yamada was rather caught off guard from such a remark. "But...couldn't it only be a student?"_

_"If you seen half the teachers around here yourself, you'd know better." Kirigiri commented. "Some of the teachers here have certain..."methods" that some would find disagreeable."_

_"Yeah, like that jerk Mr. Koisk." Ikusaba grumbled just mentioning the name alone. "He blatantly talked about her panties sticking out just to humiliate her!"_

_"That's terri-!" Whatever Yamada was about to say was cut off as another thought entered his mind. "...Wait, just for clarity sake, what did these panties look like?" The shine in his glasses proved how curious he was about this new topic. The sight of a burning inferno, which was the gateway to hell, that he saw in Ikusaba's eyes vaporized that curiosity almost immediately after. "N-Ne-Never mind..." _

_"Tch, least that dick is dead." Owada reminded. He scratched the back of his head, trying to word his words respectfully. "Not that he deserved it like that. Don't get me wrong, he deserved something like that after all the students he tormented, that part I agree with. I just can't help but shudder when I think about how he gutted himself like that. I heard it was brutal."_

_There was a silent hiccup in Ikusaba's throat as she gulped. She was the only one who knew the true, and full, extent of Mr. Kiosk's suicide. His questionable behavior towards others, as well as the indecency he displayed among other people, were the only reasons why the majority thought his suicide was the result of some mental disorder. And while some students were glad to be rid of a teacher as cruel as him, not one of them could openly say they were glad he cut open his own stomach the way he did. _

_It was rare moments like these that terrified Ikusaba of what her sister could convince people to do for her. _

_"It can't really be that hard to determine if a teacher or student started the rumors, right?" Leon asked, crossing his arms as he shrugged. "I mean, if a teacher started it, a lot of students would know who started it then."_

_"Maybe the rumors just started accidentally?" Yamada proposed. "Perhaps another teacher did something just as humiliating to her, and someone else started talking about it, and then another person misinterpreted something, and lead to the events before us. The perfect Domino Effect!"_

_"It still doesn't matter though if we can't clear up the confusion." Ikusaba retorted. "The issue isn't so much figuring out who started the rumor, it's more along the lines of finding out why they got it so messed up to begin with." Owada was a little surprised by that reply._

_"Huh, really?" He mumbled questionably. "Personally I thought kicking the stuffing out of whoever did it was more of the issue."_

_"Mmh..." Kirigiri moaned._

_This was all annoying to Kirigiri, more than it was to the rest of the surrounding students at that time. She's investigated as much as she possibly could, dug up any sort of information to find clues, and had nothing to show for it. She absolutely had to figure out the cause of this great rumor for Naegi's sake before the end of the school year! She didn't care anymore that it was just a stupid rumor, she already took this thing personally._

_It wasn't just a rumor here. This rumor was far beyond anything that had been spread around throughout Naegi's entire life at the academy. Not some simple "sleeping in class", not some stupid joke about her panties being on display, which she was a bit more curious about, and not some single tease that quickly spread out of control._

_This was a rumor that NO ONE wanted on their record. _

_She found it more amazing that such a rumor managed to elude her and the rest for so long, as well as confusing her and the rest of the gang. Only recently, about two months ago, a god-forsaken rumor was spread around, that Naegi had slept with someone in order to get them to improve her grades, whether it be a teacher or a student was irrelevant. To make matters worse, it continued going on, changing along over the course of time, saying what "various things" Naegi did with this, just for the sake of her grade._

_ It was from here the innocent rumor of Naegi "Bribing" someone to get into Hope's Peak Academy came from,which later horrified the rest of Naegi's friends when they discovered to what extent._

_Initially, for a single, full, minute, Kirigiri misinterpreted this as a natural sleepover. She wasn't stupid or anything, in fact she was rather enlightened compared to most people, especially when it came to Naegi. Naegi was just too sweet and innocent to do something else so horrific, hence the alternative form of that phrase never even phased her. By the time she did discover what someone truly met, she felt nothing more than pure rage. _

_To make matters worse, Naegi, as Kirigiri thought, was too innocent in the matter to realize what they fully meant. To her fairness, no one explicitly detailed the nature of these rumors. The only thing she had to deal with up till now was the idea that someone said she bribed her way into school, not noticing the subtle hints some jerks left behind for her. _

_Along with this, as they guarded her, both Oogami and Owada made absolutely sure, that anyone they knew would truly just walk up and announce the rumor in front of Naegi, stayed away from her at all times. The girl had enough going on with her plate, so to speak, and couldn't afford to be brought down now of all times with an important exam in the next few days. She didn't need this while doing something that determined the rest of her life._

_What riled up the anger inside her even further was the current state of affairs. Something about how this was all being presented and laid out before her, something wasn't right. She felt like she knew the answer to her current dilemma, knew exactly who was causing this problem, but her mind wouldn't let her come up with an answer. Some otherworldly force was keeping her from discovering the answer she needed to save Naegi's image._

_The question was what though...?_

_..._

_..._

_"Mh..." Naegi yawned internally to herself. Her half-asleep eyes and overall appearance helped imply her tired state, not that Togami looked concerned about it._

_ She wasn't tired from the last few tests she took, she was tired from the last _**_several_**_ groups of tests Togami put her through. By now, she could say with a confident face that she was feeling more and more ready for the exam, but by now she couldn't tell if she would continue to live long enough to actually have that test. With all the testing and quizzing Togami continually pushed her through, it already felt like she was having the exam, and then some. _

_And throughout each test and quiz Togami pushed her threw, he felt his irritation increase. It wasn't the irritation from having to correct each batch several times before Naegi perfected it, that was just for show. His irritation stemmed from the results of his own research, which Naegi managed to disprove time and time again._

_No matter how hard he pushed, no matter how far he shoved Naegi into his hard-edged Tests, she refused to give up. She just kept getting up and charged head on into each and every paper she received. It was taking it's toll on her from the looks of things, but that was just something to be expected in the aftermath. It was the things he wasn't expecting, like his failure to reveal a fault with Naegi, that angered him. It was one of the few reasons that he dragged "class" on for the last several hours, resulting in the time being around 9:47 that night. _

_Why was she pushing herself through this? Why didn't she give up? These thoughts kept rushing back into his head like a broken record player. Playing the same tune in his head in an endless loop, these were questions he could never answer himself, or could ever understand._

_ Naturally, being the proud heir of the Togami Corp that he was, Togami would never be the one to just submit at the hands of his challenges. But then why was Naegi even more determined than him? She didn't have a bright future like him to look forward to, she wasn't expected to accomplish great things in her life like he was, and, at least to him, she didn't have anyone that expected useful results out of her. She was just a simple, plebian girl, who had an everyday useless life, among the greater people like him. _

_What did she have to achieve in her life that she found so important? _

_Kirigiri was absolutely right, painful as it was to admit. Naegi did appear to be one of the most determined, hard-working, students, within Hope's Peak Academy, possibly on the same level as Togami found himself to be. It was for that reason, the endless testing, the annoyance he dragged her and himself through, that he continued to push her. He couldn't accept that someone with such a lowly life like Naegi's, would actually be on the same level of determination as him. He would continue to push harder and harder, even it ended up killing one of them._

_However, there was some other strange feeling as he watched this. Seeing her going off and off with her head held high, or however high she could get it from her tired state, there was something unique about it. _

_He couldn't fathom in the slightest as to what that feeling was, with the only possible definition that did come to mind making him feel ill. He would off himself a thousand times over before ever admitting it, in fact, he would sooner go on a date with Fukawa for two full minutes, before he'd ever openly admit this feeling to himself. It pained him, sickened him, and disrupted all his own thoughts._

_As much as he hated to say it, seeing Naegi like that, determined to her very core, persevering no matter how impossible things became, it was an aspect of her he found...charming. _

_Perhaps that's why he finally took pity on the young girl. _

_"Hmph, ok, class is over." He announced walking over to her desk. Naegi looked back to him in mixed surprise and tiredness. _

_"Huh?" This was the first time Togami had ever stopped a test abruptly when she was still taking it. "B-But I'm not done yet." She replied. She just watched him as he took the papers from her desk, ordering and straightening them until they were in separate orderly stacks. _

_"I did not ask for you to complain." He said firmly. "It is already late in the day, and you have classes going on tomorrow morning. I will not have you blathering about in classes, making up some excuse about my teaching methods keeping you from focusing in class tomorrow. It'll ruin my image."_

_"B-But-..." Naegi knew when it was time to stop arguing with him. _

_Just from his teachings alone, she learned when and how far to push an argument, provided she managed to drum one up at all. It was just unlike him though, finishing tests that were unfinished early, leaving when he hadn't given the perfectly-clear "ok" to her. It was just weird to her, and confusing. But that would have to be for now. She had her own limits to how she could argue, and for how late into the night like this._

_ Rubbing her eyes with a deep-hearted yawn, she finally decided to let it go, gathering her supplies and all. "Alright." She complied sheepishly. _

_"One other reminder, Naegi." Togami spoke firmly. "As you know, the Exam is this Friday, which only leads us with one more day to study before the test the following day." He raised his finger with authority. "I want you here at 8:30 sharp in the morning for a final practice-exam, which I order you to study for tomorrow. Only I will determine if you're ready or not for the Exam this Friday. Are we clear?" For once since Naegi had met the sheepish girl, Naegi gave an affirming nod, looking more determined than usual._

_"Right." She nodded. This is what she's been working so hard on for the past several months. This Friday, the make-it-or-break-it Exam would be presented to her, one that would determine her entire future. She could admit, she didn't feel ready, but most of that was the anxiety and fear of taking the Exam itself. Deep down, she was determined to pass this Exam, for her and her friends' sake. She wouldn't let anything prevent her from passing this Exam or anything leading up to it. Nothing would stop her now!_

_"Naegi, wait!" _

_Ok, well except for that. She looked back curiously as Togami suddenly called out to her, just as she grasped the door handle in the room. _

_"How...How are you...with answering phones?" _

_There was a awkward silence of wind breezing along the confines of Naegi's mind. By far, this was the most random question anyone had ever asked her, and coming from Togami of all people! Sure, she really hasn't had any conversation with him that didn't involve testing, or some form of him gloating and talking about all his future accomplishments, but that was besides the point. _

_"U-mm...Huh?" Naegi was just as confused as any by the sudden question._

_"It's not a complicated issue which should require any brain power." He said irritated, pushing up his glasses. "It's a simple question which even you should be able to answer. How are you with answering phones. _

_It sounded even more awkward to her the second time she heard it, but she didn't want to anger the guy whose helped her so much in a short span of time. "U-Um...well...Y-Yeah, I'm good with using the phone, I can use it just fine...why?" Togami looked away in response. _

_"Just wondering, nothing more." He responded. "Now leave for the night and get to sleep, before I call this all off." As scary as the tests he gave her were, the thought of them suddenly coming to an abrupt end, especially the day before the dreaded Exam, frightened Naegi considerably. She quickly let out a shallow "eek" before running out the door, wanting to do everything she could to keep her self-titled "Study Buddy" for as long as she could._

_Togami groaned with pure annoyance. _

_Naegi was annoying._

_This role he had as a tutor for her was annoying._

_Everything about her was annoying._

_And yet for some reason, he still felt himself having a sickening pity for the young girl. He couldn't tell why, and he could never accept it, even if he just pretended to, but he continued to feel pity. It was because of this pity he found himself asking such a bizarre question to her all of the sudden. It held no true meaning to the girl herself, and he was sure she would never understand it at the time, but he already had other thoughts running in his head about her future. _

_Perhaps if things didn't work out for her and this Exam, he could always use her as a Secretary in the future..._

_..._

_..._

_"Hmm hmhm hm hmmm..." Naegi hummed gingerly to herself as she brushed her hair in front of her bathroom mirror. She was already dressed for bed, wearing a pink nightie for the night since her room was nice and warm. Having packed up and readied herself for school the next day, Naegi couldn't help but feel anxious about the test, but not for reasons like before._

_Back when this all started, the day the Principal talked to her about her grades and the future Exam, she was mortified. To discover that she needed to turn her C+ average testing grade into a solid B+ or higher, and increase her overall grades in all her other classes at the same time, she could only know fear. That fear brought about numerous issues and fears for her, and what the possible future may hold. _

_Now, here she was several months after, smiling to herself in the mirror. She felt a little giddy to be honest just from thinking about the test. Before where her heart would tremble from simply thinking about it, she was now standing proud and ready for the Exam. She's had so many inspirations and people behind her back urging her on to finish this test to the best of her ability, so many people she couldn't let down. _

_Her grades were up to a solid B average now, some of her classes actually at a B+ to a solid A too. She's done all the extra credit work she could, all the make-up tests she could request, and has studied her butt off nearly every day since learning of this Exam. It didn't matter if she didn't feel ready or not, she _**_had_**_ to feel ready. With an uptight personality, the friends backing her up to her final moments, and all the work she's gone through for the last several months, she finally felt physically and mentally prepared for this test. _

_*knock*_

_*knock*_

_*knock*_

_"Hmm?" She glanced to the open door of the bathroom, focusing on the actual door to her room as she set her brush down. That was strange, it's a little late in the night for any late night visits. "Did Togami forget to say something?" She mumbled asking herself as she walked. She didn't need to worry about being in just a nightie as she reached the door handle, she could just stick behind the door and pop her head out without worry._

_...That was her last mistaken thought._

_*SWIFF*_

_"Ah-Mmmhhhh!" She muffled a scream as a familiar hand with eerily long fingers tightened around her mouth and nose, blocking any sound she could ever let out. She couldn't even react fast enough. By the time the door opened up by just a crack, her sudden assailant's hand had already taken her. _

_There was a familiarity of this strange scene, something she recalled some time ago. Having her mouth covered by one long creepy hand alone, being lifted up into the air by only said hand, it started flowing back memories of someone she had almost forgotten up until now. It was someone she wished she never had remembered too. _

_Oh no. _

_"Did you misssssss me?"_

...

...

...

A/N: HALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLELUJAH! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALELUJAH! HAALEEEEEEEELUUUUUUUU-FREAKING-JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! IT"S HAPPEND! IT'S HERE! THE DAYS OF NIGH PROPHECY HAS BEEN BESEECHED UPON US! The day no one, not even I, god himself (of this fanfic), thought possible!

I'VE POSTED 2 FULL CHPS IN A SINGLE DAAAAAAAAAAAY!

TAKE THAT CHUCK NORRIS!

Enjoy, leave a like, a fav, and a review ^^ Also, I can guarantee you'll continue to get flashback intros like this in each future chp, excluding ones with trials of course except for the first-part trials. As I said, changing the Bonus Eps to "Flashback" requests, which can consist of any scenes/interactions you'd wish to see between Naegi and someone during her high school life at Hope's Peak ^^

HALLLLLLLLLLELUJAH! I"D REALLY LIKE TO SEE SOMEONE BEAT MY RECORD!...actually not because then I'll be depressed XD

And no, this was not a bonus ep ^^ This is a 100% main-plot episode, purposely intended Flashback episode for the main story ^^


	35. Forgotten Reminiscence Part 2

A/N: *Hic!* I'm ashshshshaaaamed of all of you'sh! *hic!* pos'hted two chapter'sh for all of you'sh and I ain't gotten'sh a fri-*HIC!*-en reppppppppply! *hic!* I've drunken mys'helf to the point of turning emu-shhhhhh...I mean e-*HIC!*-Emo! *HIC!* I hope your all s'hoooooo h-*hic* happy X! Now I need to gets'h more drunk until I los'he my drunkeneshsh...*HIC!*

*15 bottles of vodka later*

Ha! And people say you can't drink yourself out of being drunk ^^ Dk who came up with that ridiculous that alcohol was bad for your health ^^ After all, I figured I must've lost about 14% of my brain cells, but I do n't fee l a ny sid e effe cts wha tsoe ver ^ ^...*HIC!*

Enjoy!

_..._

_..._

_..._

_"Awwwwhhnnnn..." Owada groaned with a yawn, leaning back in his chair as he rubbed his eyes away again. _

_"You really should consider not cramming all your studying into two nights you know..." Asahina commented, sitting in the desk next to him._

_Thursday. The day before the paper that would determine everyone's fate within Hope's Peak Academy, and suffice to say, the first if they actually managed to pass this year's exam at all. This was what all the hours of studying, hard work, and patience had let up to this one decisive factor. Everyone had worked tirelessly to prepare for this day, studying weeks before hand, with themselves or others, taking practice exams to ensure they were ready, and using everything they've learned throughout the years to master just about everything they would need for this one exam._

_All of them had worked tirelessly, yet not one of them had shown the same amount of effort or determination as Naegi._

_She was a pure symbol of belief at this point. She was the only student who had worked tirelessly for the last several months entirely, compared to the few weeks most others had. She didn't entirely have a choice in the matter, seeing how her very livelihood mattered on the line. Finding out from the Principal, Kirigiri's dad himself, that if she didn't get a B+ or better, and that's provided if she managed to bring up the rest of her grades, then she would be expelled from Hope's Peak Academy for failing the year. _

_It was a burden nobody wanted to be placed under, especially not someone as average as Naegi herself. She wasn't just a student within Hope's Peak; she was, by every meaning of the word, the most average out of all the students within it. Having no noticeable "talent", save for the given-title "Super High School Level Good Luck", which she only acquired from the school after a simple lottery system, school life within this prestigious school had been a nightmare for her. _

_Within these halls, things such as "bullying" and "test scores" were nothing more than an understatement. In a school where she was forced to completely excel at her current level of prowess, improving her grades substantially just to pass for a year, she came to realize that life within this school where "success at Hope's Peak guarantees success for life" made things a living hell. For somebody that had the most basic and common life of an ordinary school-girl, she soon discovered that test scores were the least of her problems._

_Friends, bullying, each thing she had a personal problem with._

_ When it came to the friends that was a problem within itself. There were two issues people had with her title alone: 1, the title itself. Nobody entirely had an issue with the title itself directly, but those related to it. While no one ever saw her display the same amount of craziness, the title "Super High School Level Good Luck" was given by the infamous "Nagito Komeda", a student of Hope's Peak who was beyond just creeping people out with his strange behavior. Because of his title alone, he rubbed off that anyone with the same title would be just the way he was._

_Secondly, it had to do with title's "Talent". Nobody could understand it. To them, Naegi was the epiphany of "Normal" within this school. Average studying, average classes, and average grades, many were doubtful that she had actually gotten into this school by fair means. Possessing no other talents, and latent inability to surpass or exceed any classes in particular at the beginning of the year, rumors started to spread about that Naegi, or someone related to her, had bribed her into this school. This rumor became much worse when Naegi's current friends, those who saw Naegi for who she truly was, found out what exactly they were referring to as in "Bribing". As a result, it became increasing harder for the girl to make any friends at all within this school, even more so to find someone to just help her study for her tests and everything. _

_It was, perhaps, times like these that her title of "Good Luck" finally came to good use though. _

_Ever since Naegi's recent friends were made, her life had gotten...actually a little more harder, but was less stressful along the way. What started out as a small simple list of two friends, consisting of Kirigiri, the girl who seemed rather keen on being Naegi's friend from the start, and Maizono, the girl who she's been friends with since grade school, her list had more than tripled within the last six months alone. In fact, her list of friends were over the dozens, far beyond what the average student had within these halls, and that was including the students with specific talents._

_The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, Owada. The Ultimate Shaman, Hagakure. The Ultimate Swimmer, Asahina. These were but a few of the dozen friends she's made as of late. It was thanks to them and their kindness, their willingness to look past Naegi's faults, specifically her noticeable lack of talent, that Naegi continued to push herself harder and harder. It actually got bad to one point where she ended up giving herself a fever, but like always, her friends were there to support her. _

_With their help and supervision, she began excelling her classes, even more than some students WITH their related-talents, and was increasing her grades substantially through the months to come. With Naegi's friends, this school finally felt like a place she could call "Home", where she would have people close by her to help her with her worries or problems. And this, in turn, gave everyone a new genuine friend who they always looked up to. There was just something about Naegi's optimistic and never-give-up attitude that they all took a shine to. Whether having the most terrible days, or the most average ones, Naegi always tried her hardest. _

_And it was at this time, all her friends were found seated across the room. With only one day remaining for the final Exam, everyone within the school actually had every single class period to study for the test. To make the students feel more at ease, they were all allowed to take the tests wherever they felt like, provided it was within a secured and monitored classroom, of course. It was decided, by Naegi and her friends, that they would all work together in one classroom, preparing for the test that would determine their fates._

_Oh! And they all got to sleep in since today was nothing but a study day. So, you know, point for them._

_"Hey, I wouldn't have to cram so much if the tests were easier." Owada muttered back. "Why can't they just have a simple ten or twenty-question essay or somethin'? Better yet just not have the test at all! It would be a lot better than having a test that SERIOUSLY makes the rest of the school year pointless."_

_"I wouldn't really say it'd be 'pointless'." Celes commented._

_Celes was actually one of Naegi's more "Mutual" friends. She both, liked Naegi, and despised her with all her hate. Kind of like Fukawa, except she didn't hate her to as much of an extent as Celes. As it should be obvious, seeing how she's the Super High School Level High roller, her interest in Naegi came from the luck Naegi seemed to carry at all times._

_She couldn't explain it. Whether through tests' multiple choice tests that held a portion of Naegi's grade, or through a weekly lottery for a student to pick a prize from the School's store, not once had she ever met someone as complicated as Naegi. She was a dunce to her in some cases, not starting out the school year with anything higher than an average C, and her talent never appeared to save her from embarrassment like when her skirt ended up undone for no explicit reason, and that was if she was actually lucky some form of embarrassment never came from the form of her panties._

_So why the hell was it Celes could never _**_once_**_ seem to beat Naegi in a simple game of cards?!_

_Naegi had to be a devil of some sort in disguise, sent from the depths of Hell to trick Celes into offering her soul to Satan in exchange for the chance to finally beat Naegi in a game of cards. There was no other possibility! No matter how many times Celes tried to beat her, no matter how easy the game was in reality, and no matter how many times Naegi failed in hiding some form of "twitch" or "sign", that usually gave off what a person's intentions were, she could never freaking beat Makoto Naegi! And to say it was driving her mad would've been an understatement. _

_And sadly yet, Naegi couldn't explain it either. She's barely ever played any games of chance with anyone else, and knew very little about card games except for the classics like "Go Fish" and such, and as if to spite Celes' wrath even further, not that she actually knew Celes was getting tiresome over it, she never once lost a game against the Ultimate Gambler, while never once winning against anyone else. She felt a little good on the inside that she could beat the school's best gambler around, but felt a little sorry for Celes, even going as far as one time actually TRYING to lose on purpose. _

_It's a good thing she never told Celes about that, because there was no way to tell how far her hatred and anger would boil if she knew._

_It was for this reason, whenever Naegi had the time, Celes always used whatever opportunity to have another duel of cards against Naegi. She refused to be beaten by the most simplistic student around...and, to be moderately honest with herself, she did actually have a little bit of fun playing cards with Naegi. It was somehow different to her for some reason, and not just for the fact she beat her either. _

_"You'd at least get some figment of what you learned memorized." Celes continued. _

_"Yeah, well when you talk 'it to a biker-guy like me, it's kinda harder to keep things together, ya know?" Owada mumbled, picking his ear with his pinkie._

_"Oh, we understand." Asahina said with a simple nod. "We'll be sure the test they give you has very simple words."_

_"Well thanks, I-! HEY!" Owada grumbled. Even Celes found herself chuckling alongside Asahina's joke._

_"What's with all the laughter?" Kirigiri asked curiously, walking inside along with Ikusaba. It was only during those few brief moments within the room that Kirigiri, and Ikusaba without her knowing, noticed a certain student missing from the room. "Hey, where's Naegi?" _

_"Mhhm." Asahina mumbled with a shrug. "I figured she was still sick." _

_"Sick?" Ikusaba repeated in confusion._

_"Yeah dude," Owada added, "there was a sign on her door the other day. Said she wasn't feeling well and didn't want any visitors."_

_"Anything short of her death is inexcusable." Togami muttered. The other students looked back as they suddenly realized he was in the room at all. He was so silent off towards the wall with the windows, reading the book in his face while Fukawa ogled him from affront, they barely even knew he was there at all! "To think I actually started to bother even noticing her existence. Now I just realized I wasted all my time I put into her."_

_"What are you talking about?" Kirigiri asked as she walked over, books in hand. Kirigiri was one of the few people he had the decency to look in the eye as he spoke, having only a small fragment of any of his respect._

_"I mean that plebian ditched the Study-Test I had prepared for her this morning. She was supposed to meet me this morning at 8:30 sharp this morning and completely ditched the study altogether." Togami explained. Despite the seriousness of it, Asahina couldn't help but grin._

_"Heheh, Togami got ditched on a daaaaate!" She teased. _

**_"IT WASN'T A DAMN DATE!"_**_ He roared. To keep him from directing his rage towards her again, even if it meant questioning the innocent blush on his cheeks, Asahina quickly clamped her mouth shut in fear. _

_"Ok..." She squeaked._

_"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Kirigiri shook her head, trying to focus without the ringing in her ears. "Naegi never showed up this morning for whatever study session you had?" Togami groaned as he pushed his glasses up against his eyes._

_"To put it simply, no, she did not." He stated calmly. Kirigiri rubbed her chin as she lowered her head._

_That didn't sound right in the least. Naegi was the hardest working student at this place, and was studying harder than anyone at the moment for the test tomorrow. Heck, she's spent nearly half her life at this school only preparing for this test. Sure, she might've caught another fever or something, and that would explain the sign on the door itself, but even then it shouldn't have lasted anymore than a single day at most like her last one. _

_It was around this time Kirigiri's heart began to shutter. There was something wrong about all of this, a feeling in her heart that refused to stay silent. It wasn't like the regular feeling you get when you felt something was wrong. It was her detective's sense telling her something was wrong. And not once in her life had she ever had said sense appear only to prove to be false to her later on. _

_Yet at a time like this, she almost wish it did._

_"Something's not right..." She muttered to herself, barely audible to the now-curious Ikusaba._

_"Huh?" She questioned. _

_"I'm... going to go check on Naegi," Kirigiri stated with unease, "just to make sure she's okay."_

_"You think something's wrong?" Asahina wondered. Owada's own curiosity heightened at this._

_"Just a hunch but...n-no, it's nothing." Kirigiri shook her head before smiling. "I'm just going to see how she's doing, see if she got any better since yesterday." She announced, heading out into the hallways. Both, Owada and Asahina, looked to each other with a slight twinge of worry._

_"You think something's up with the chick?" Owada asked._

_"I'm a little more worried about Naegi at the moment." Asahina commented with a small frown, earning a mental roll of the eyes from Owada._

_"Who do you think I was referring to?" _

_"I'm going along with her." Ikusaba spoke up, clenching her fist a little. "I don't feel any better about this than the rest of you. Something feels wrong about this."_

_"Well it can't be that bad, right?"_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_"...Ngh..." Naegi moaned as she slowly regained consciousness. Not just her, but the Naegi that was still watching from inside her head, both being met with a blurry haze as their limbs felt stiff. "What's going on?" The Naegi who was watching through her own eyes wondered. She couldn't see past the haze, having only the same field of vision like this Naegi did. From what little haze she could see, she appeared to be surrounded by wood several yards away from her in all directions. _

_Was she in a small room?_

_Along with this, the Naegi inside of this Naegi's head began to question things. She knew this couldn't be some form of reality, she would've remembered if this all was at some point! But after each and every little thing she's experienced as of late, something felt off. _

_For a figment of her "imagination", all of this felt a little too real as of late. The constant bullying problems in the hallways, feeling like the teachers are harassing her just as much as the students, which they were by the way, and dealing with constant test problems, it all felt like something that a real school would have to offer. Even if this was just her imagination at work because of some "mental defense" thing, to her, there was a limit to how accurate something could get before it became too real._

_But what were her options then? If she refused to accept this as just a mere illusion then, what was she supposed to accept this as? A fantasy? Reality? A dream? There was no right or wrong answer, at least not one Naegi could come to terms with with her current facts. It felt like the answer was on the tip of her brain, shouting at her to know what it was, but her mind wouldn't allow the answer to come to her if she wanted._

_Maybe that was just part of the illusion though. Perhaps her mind had placed her under such bizarre circumstances to make sure she wouldn't accept this as anything more than a dream. But in a dream, one could usually control what happens in their own mind, right? Sometimes when one became aware they were dreaming, they had the capacity to alter things sometimes. So why couldn't Naegi alter certain events in her own mind?_

_It was just like watching some record player going off; whenever she came to a part of her dream that didn't seem to be going well, she tried to change events and aspect to make the dream happier to her. Yet, no matter how hard she tried or wished to change things, they just stayed the same. Even more confusing, for whatever reason, the words that came out of this Naegi's mouth weren't what she had in her mind. It was like this Naegi and the one watching through her eyes were disconnected at the time, but still the same in all manner of speaking. _

_The confusion never seemed to end. _

_"Well, well, well, look who'ssssss finally woken up..." A voice hissed from the blurry figure ahead of her. Whether it was her own, or the Naegi whose eyes she was currently looking through, Naegi felt a twinge of pain in her heart. A pain of fear, a pain of confusion, and a pain of confusion. Through the eyes currently opened to her, her vision began to clear up little by little, focusing on the figure who gazed from above her. Only half-way through the clearing did Naegi truly realize who the mysterious captor was, the one that had abducted her from what seemed like last night, never knowing the true scale. _

_It was Isshiki Madarai. _

_"Mhhhmhhhh!" She tried to scream. Naegi looked amongst herself as she noticed the muffled output. It was at this time she finally felt the tape stuck tightly to her mouth, keeping her from screaming. Feeling around more closely, she assumed it was the same materials keeping her wrists and ankles bound together, noticing how they felt rather strange around her wrist while remaining tight at the same time. _

_With his just-as-creepy grin as he once greeted her with, he tenderly grabbed Naegi's chin, hovering his tongue over her face like a lizard smelling with it's own tongue. "Hnnnngh..." Naegi couldn't tell if he was either groaning with disgust, or moaning with delight, she was too frightened to care. "You smell just as wonderful as last time we met." He commented. That answered her previous question at least- it was delight. "_

_"Hmhghgh...mhmhhh!" Naegi teared up as she tried to cry for help. _

_She did not trust Madarai in the least. After what happened last time, where he tried to propose his services for her if she "provided service" for him in return, it was just too dreadful to recall. If not for the rescue of her friends last time, she didn't want to know just how far he was going to push for her "services"._

_And now she feared that rescue would rescue would no longer come. _

_"Ohhhh, there'sssss no need to cry my dear." He spoke with a cheeky grin. "I'm afraid it's rather doubtful your friends will even save you in time this time round." Naegi could only shutter as he slowly trailed his hands from her chin, slowly down the skin of her neck, and closer to her chest. It frightened her more that he wouldn't stop at just that. "See, last time we did this, we were out in the open, somewhere just about everyone could see. But I picked a more _**_reserved_**_ spot for our meeting this time."_

_"Hmmnggghhh." Naegi moaned as she cried softly. Her eyes were tightened as they shut, unable to watch as this sicko played with her body in such a disgusting way. No matter how far in the back of her mind she tried to keep such pessimistic thoughts out of her, something told her that he planned on "playing" with her body in a more literal sense by the time this was over. _

_"Oh don't worry about ever being found either." Isshiki continued. Every time he spoke, it was if he was trying to tense her feelings more and more. He wanted her to suffer every word that escaped his lips right until the very end. "We're still on school grounds I assure you. But given how long it took bringing you up here past all the hallways and floors, I don't think they'll expect you to have gotten this far."_

_"_**_This _**_far?" Naegi thought to herself confused. "What does he mean by that?" _

_"By the way," he paused steadily to slurp his lips with excitement, "I admire your choice of clothing for tonight's...entertainment." _

_Naegi didn't need to look around to figure out what he meant. Out of all the times ever, she cursed to herself to pick last night, or however long she had been knocked out for, to wear her nightie at a time like this. Whenever she felt a little hot in her room at night, or there wasn't much of a breeze from the AC, her nightie would be the perfect PJs for just an occasion, one long thin shirt that stretched all the way down to her knees. _

_If she ever managed to escape from this night alive, she guaranteed she would burn her current clothes, and never wear a single shirt by itself, and call it PJs, ever again. Too bad for her though, because it didn't look like he planned on letting her go anytime soon, if ever. __"Ohohoho, we're going to have such _**_FUN_**_ tonight, my little Naegi..." _

_"Mmhhhhh!" Naegi squeezed her eyes tighter as she felt his finger poking right on top of her bellybutton. The way he swirled it lewdly across her skin, practically tearing into the nightie itself. It untold fear and terror upon both Naegi's, who could only wished she would wake up from whatever nightmare was assaulting her mind. All she could do at that time was close her eyes, and pray whatever happened, it would be over soon._

_"Someone...anyone... help me..."_

_..._

_..._

_..._

"So...what do we do about her?" Owada asked leaning back in his chair.

Normally, you would think the gang would have regrouped back in the lunchroom after their regular morning investigation meeting. But after the recent circumstances, from Ikusaba's revealed betrayal, all her relationships to the puppet master, save for a certain few aspects of it, and Naegi's second-most attempted murder, no one could be anywhere else farther from Naegi anymore. That's why they all gathered outside the Nurse's Office in the hallway.

There was something going on that involved Naegi, everyone was sure of it by this point. After all the attempts on her life, the scrambled ways the puppet master tried to put his own hands on Naegi's life, Kirigiri had some idea that Naegi was the key to whatever the future held for all their lives. It was the only explanation as to why her life had been constantly held on the Headmaster's fingertips this whole time.

Drowning in the pool, tranquilizing and putting the girl to sleep in the midst of the freezing school grounds, and the most recent attempt, a direct shot at her in person, there had to be something going on with Naegi, something the puppet master didn't want.

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't convince everyone else that Ikusaba was truly innocent in all this, not that she blamed them. If not for the guaranteed truce she made with Ikusaba the night before, she felt like she would be tearing Ikusaba's own throat out by this point, ignoring any lie or excuse she'd make! It was only because of the assured evidence she had for herself, and the emotional evidence she knew Ikusaba had for Naegi, that she was sure that Ikusaba wasn't Naegi's attempted-assassinator.

As for the others, they cared little even if Kirigiri DID manage to have some form of evidence to prove to Ikusaba's innocence. That night they learned of Ikusaba's true origins, they saw things which shook them to their very core. Backhanded deals behind the scenes of the game, full-fledged murders taking place in different classrooms, having little-to-no idea they took place within the very school itself, and so on.

Trust was a scarce thing at this point in time. And it was only continuing to wear thin with each passing minute.

"You know we can't just kill her for the time being." Kirigiri stated, leaning against the wall.

"Why not?!" Yamada stammered in a mix of worry and fear. "I mean, I'm not one for killing someone outright, and I definitely wouldn't think of trying to kill another girl, especially one who's a soldier! But we can't just let her go at this point or she might kill us! Besides, the new Monokuma rule said it's a freebie, remember?"

"I'm not too comfortable with it either, Yamada." Asahina said with a small frown. "After seeing all the killing she did and the stuff the puppet master did with her, who knows what other sort of horrible things she might've done? But I just don't feel comfortable killing her because of it, even if it WAS a rule stating we had to."

"I agree with Asahina on this one." Kirigiri said with a nod. "Don't any of you find it weird that Monokuma would just _suddenly_ reveal her betrayals like this, and then make a new rule saying we could kill her without any sort of consequence? He's obviously setting us up for something."

"Hmmmm I don't know entirely about that." Owada muttered, scratching his head. "Usually when it comes to that puffball, he's completely nitpicky about the rules. It's not like I trust the damn bear or anything, but after everything that's happened up to this point, I don't think he would go back on his word and kill us if we suddenly went and killed her."

"It's not the killing-her-part I'm talking about, Owada." Kirigiri stated. "I'm talking about how he's allowing us to just go out there and kill her if we wanted to, and provide us with a reason that would make us want to kill her in the first place. There has to be a reason he wants her dead more than anything."

"Like what?" Yamada asked curiously.

"Well..." Kirigiri bit her lip a little as she rubbed her chin. She wanted to have some definitive answer to these questions, but she couldn't figure out what. "M-Maybe she betrayed the puppet master at some point after the last trial? You all know how he was when Sakura decided to fight against him too." Kirigiri never thought she'd be the one to support Ikusaba's side, much less keep her from getting killed, like this.

"Oh ho, an interesting claim." Yamada grinned as he adjusted his glasses.

"But what about the rule with Ikusaba that was made after?" Owada argued. "Even after Oogami decided to betray the puppet master, he still made it so we'd all have some class trial going on afterwards."

"Then it just proves how dangerous she is to the headmaster's schemes." Kirigiri retorted. "She probably has information so valuable that it would ruin any future plans the puppet master holds."

"Kirigiri's got a point." Asahina agreed as she turned to Owada. "When you think about it, Sakura didn't have too much information on the puppet master like Ikusaba probably does, so maybe he wasn't as worried about Sakura's betrayal despite all things."

"Hmmm...I still don't know, maaan..." Owada grumbled crossing his arms. "I can't say I feel comfortable with any of this to be honest, but I can at least say I wouldn't go about killing her either."

Kirigiri actually smiled at this. She needed as much support from everyone as she could possibly muster. It was hard given the circumstances, what with Ikusaba's displayed-history on the monitors, and god knows what other schemes she's worked on behind the scenes, but for now, just having their support would be enough for her, at least in keeping Ikusaba alive for the time being.

"But then what do we do about her?" Owada asked. "We can't just keep her tied up forever, but we can't just let her go either."

"Well we're not killing her, that's for sure." Asahina said with an assured nod. "It's not that I trust her anymore than the rest of you, but we have to at least show her we do. How else are we supposed to het her to tells what she knows?"

"Leave that up to ME, my darling." Yamada declared with a shimmer in his eyes. "Just allow me to work my charms on her, and I can get a lady to do anything. It's worked dozens of times for me in the past when I needed someone for something."

"Huff, Yamada, I get the feeling that's only because they wanted you to _go away_, not because of any charms…" Asahina sighed.

"Heh, it would be hilarious to see him try though." Owada chuckled, rubbing under his nose.

"Ehhh…why would that be funny?" Yamada couldn't understand.

Poor guy.

"I don't care about the methods used, but we need to make sure she at least stays alive." Kirigiri declared.

It wasn't entirely that Kirigiri cared for Ikusaba, not entirely at least, but still more than she once had. Part of the reasoning was any possible link she had to the mysteries surrounding this school. Since the mutual killings began, she has spent most of her time hounding around Naegi to keep her safe, unable to trust that she'd be safe on her own with Ikusaba herself. Because of this, she's had fairly little time to investigate the mysteries surrounding this school, save for at least the first day after following each trial.

It was for this reason, that Ikusaba's survival was critical for the remaining students of Hope's Peak academy, and Naegi's. The fact the puppet master appeared to have wanted Ikusaba dead more than anything just proved it to her. Why else would he suddenly turn on his own partner without a viable explanation behind it? Along with the fact she hasn't appeared to betray the puppet master yet, at least to Kirigiri's knowledge, there was virtually no reason for him to turn against her at all, unless it proved beneficial to him in the end.

Without revealing her true identity as the traitor Kirigiri had known her for all this time, Ikusaba could've kept playing as the undercover spy that the puppet master first wanted. Gathering whatever information the headmaster wanted for whatever reason, possibly assisting him with provoking any murders to the trials or changing a crime scene at any point to make it harder for the classmates, there was zero benefit to exposing her secret to everyone.

There had to be something truly important that she didn't want Ikusaba to disclose about, but what? Only to make matters worse, from her recent talk to Ikusaba, she knew she couldn't tell them anything anyway. If she revealed whatever dark secrets about the puppet master she had, or told them the mysteries surrounding this school, she knew just as much as Ikusaba, that the puppet master would take the fate of everyone's lives into his own hands, or paws in this case. It was official that he wanted her dead before she could possibly reveal whatever information, and for some reason, he wanted it done as soon as possible.

The only thing that Kirigiri had yet to understand, was what?

…

…

…

_"Leave her alone, you lizard-tongued freak!" A mysterious voice called out. _

_Out of all this time, Naegi had no idea that anyone else was within this strange strange room, which turned out to be nothing more than a shack. Turning her view in the same direction as Isshiki did upon hearing it, she was amazed to find another girl in a similar predicament as Naegi found herself in, only the only things that kept her bound were the wrists tied tightly together with her arms looped around a single bar connected to the wall. It was effectively keeping her from running away as long as her wrists were stuck together._

_Naegi was a little curious of the mysterious girl. Not once in Naegi's life had she seen someone like her around school, nor had she heard much about her at all. She had long flowing red hair which stretched far below her shoulders completely. Her school uniform appeared a bit newer to Naegi, as strange as that sounded to her, noticing the cleanliness surrounding about it while keeping a firmness about it. To put it simply, it just had that "new appearance" to it. _

_Her school uniform was much like Naegi's, which would be easier to compare it to if she was actually wearing her uniform at this point instead of her nightie. Much to Naegi's surprise, the skirt she was wearing barely covered below her hips, something Naegi would NEVER have about her out of fear of any embarrassing, possible, incidences. The other thing about her, which separated her outfit compared to the rest of the students, were the long stalking-lengthed socks which stretched up just to being below her knees._

_She was truly a beautiful young lady, with an interesting fashion sense at the same time. Naegi was a bit confused though, as to who this mysterious girl as. She had yet to hear of any such girl like her, and if there was every anything "positive" about being the front of everyone's bullying and rumors, it's that you managed to hear a bit of gossip of just about everything at the same time. From events to other people in the school, you could hear about so much stuff just by being bullied, not that Naegi would ever want to be of course._

_With this being the case then, why was it Naegi had no idea who this girl was? Did she just suddenly transfer to this school at some point? Or did she really just not hear about this strange school girl? With her appearance being what it is, she'd figured nearly all the boys would be talking about her all over the school, including some girls around the school. _

_To Naegi's misfortune, the girl didn't appear to be here to save her either. Whether or not the girl would actually want to would prove irrelevant, as she seemed to be in the same predicament as Naegi found herself in. At least she was drawing the perverted Body Guard's attention away from her for the time being, although it didn't feel Naegi with any sense of pride from this. In fact, she felt a little worse that her attention was directed to someone else, watching in fear as Isshiki shuffled his way over to her._

_"Ssssso, you have ssssomething to sssay, Ryoko?" Isshiki hissed. The girl who seemed to be dubbed "Ryoko" grunted to herself in disgust, turning her head away from the drooling assaulter's tongue._

_"Ghh, just say it, don't spray it." She grumbled back to him. "And leave her alone, I don't see why you need two of us here."_

_"I don't NEED the two of you here, bitch." Isshiki hissed again with a grumble. "I jussst have some unfinished businessss with the both of you." Naegi's heart trembled as he grinned with his sickeningly-long tongue towards her. "The question issss…Do I finish my businessss with the the slut, who's the apparent whore of this ssschool-"_

_"W-Wh-Whore…?" Naegi questioned in her head. What was this guy talking about? _

_"-or," he paused again as he grinned back to Ryoko, "do I break your fucking legs and arms first for the dead thirteen students firsssst?" _

_The Naegi watching her dream in reality could only gape in horror. Thirteen students had died at this school? This was getting out of hand! If this was all a dream to her, then why would her dream suddenly drop doe strange bombshell about thirteen random people, people she doesn't even have any recollection or knowledge of, not that the dream was telling her either, being killed? And was he proposing this girl herself was the sole one responsible for all of this? _

_What was going on?!_

_*bzzzzzzzzzt* _

_The attention of all three students suddenly shifted as they heard some strange staticky noise coming from Isshiki's coat pockets. He hissed irritably to himself as he dug through his pocket for a few seconds, pulling out a walkie-talkie which continued to play static. _

_"I have to take thissss." He grumbled, only grinning when he gazed back to both girls. "Don't go anywhere…heh heh…" He joked standing up._

_"Can you at least take the tape off her mouth?" Ryoko asked, gesturing back to Naegi. "I'd prefer to have someone to talk to while waiting." Isshiki hissed to himself again with irritation, but seemed to comply with her wishes as he dragged his feet over to Naegi again. Even if she knew what he planned on doing before hand, just seeing this towering monster looming over her like this made her skin crawl with goosebumps. _

_*skskskskskrip!*_

_"OW!" Naegi yelped as he hastily ripped the duct tape right off her mouth. She couldn't see it for herself, but it left a minor red imprint on her face for a few seconds._

_"Sssshut up!" He growled again, causing the girl to turn mute almost immediately. She could only gulp with a complying nod as she waited for him to drag his feet out the door, closing it shut with a loud thud right behind him. _

_Waiting for a few seconds, Naegi turned her attention back up to the tape binding her wrists together, in a similar position as Ryoko's were. It actually made her wonder why he bothered taping her ankles together then since it was under the same restriction as her, but something told her it was keep her from running away from whatever "business" he planned with her later on. Just the simple thought of whatever he might have planned for her only made her panic more, doing her best to twist and pull the strong tape from her wrist. _

_The fact it gave her just a problem made her wonder, if she was really out of shape, he used a lot of tape to keep her in place, which wouldn't surprise her to be honest, or a little of both. She didn't really care at the moment either way, just worried about her own sake, and for the possible sake of this mysterious girl she had yet to meet._

_"C'mon…c'mon…" Naegi mumbled to herself worriedly._

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Ryoko warned, catching Naegi's attention. "Even if you managed to get undone, he's standing right outside the door right now. If you tried to escape, something tells me he would make __**sure**__ you couldn't get away next time." She explained._

_"Ngh…" Naegi moaned looking up at her wrists again before sighing. She hated to admit it, especially since she knew she was in trouble if she did stick around, but she didn't have a choice. Like Ryoko said, if she tried to escape from this twisted student, things could end up worse for the both of them. "But we can't just stay here!" Naegi replied, tearing up from fear._

_The Naegi watching this dream play about actually smiled to herself a little. She can recall a time when this all started where she would cry and be just as scared as the Naegi before her. It was from this notice she made to herself that rubbed her the wrong way. The way they were so similar like this, comparing this Naegi to the current-Naegi's past, it was a little strange to see so many similarities between the two at once, even if this was just some dream. _

_For reasons unknown to her, her heart began to race steadily, increasing with speed by each passing second. She couldn't figure out why, but something strange told that something was coming to her, something important. As to whether that certain something was good or bad, she couldn't say, seeing how her heart raced as time went on, but it had to be important. Important good, important bad, part of her felt like there was't a difference in this case. It was just important, and she needed to know why. _

_"Hey, don't worry." Ryoko spoke with a soft smile. "I'm sure someone will come to save us." Naegi sniffled audibly for a moment to herself, shaking her head as she tried to throw off the tears from her cheeks, despite the tears that continued to flow. "To be honest, no matter what he does with you, you'll probably end up better by remembering it later on." She commented lowering her head._

_Was she insane?! From all the way this man made his gestures, he looked as if he planned to rape Naegi! How the heck could she possibly say this was a good thing?!_

_"Wha-," Naegi paused again to sniffle a little, "What do you mean?"_

_"I mean you'll at least remember what happened and know why." Ryoko frowned slightly as she closed her eyes. "Come next morning, or maybe even a few hours, it won't matter what happens to me. I could wake up the next day having been kidnapped by him, in a completely different environment or building, and have no idea what I'm doing there or why." She gazed sympathetically to Naegi. "At least you'll have the knowledge of what happened later. I'll go on to never truly know…and the fear of that scares me deeply."_

_Naegi felt a little sorry for the young girl, perhaps even more than she did for herself. She hated to admit it, but Ryoko had a point- the idea of herself waking up completely unaware in a strange environment, having no idea of what was going on, it was perhaps worse than having that memory for the rest of your life. _

_And at the same time… it somehow called out to Naegi in a strange manner. Whether through her own influence through her dream or otherwise, the Naegi she was watching through took the liberty of asking in her place._

_"What…What do you mean you won't know later on?" Naegi asked curiously. Ryoko smiled to her with a soft grin, speaking the next set of words as if scripted. _

_"Because by the next day, I'll lose all of my memories of my past."_

…_past…_

…_Past…_

…_PAST…_

_PAST! _

_The world seem to freeze at that moment for the Naegi who was watching through all of this. Like a slideshow that blinked rapidly through her head without ending, images and flashes of weird scenery began playing in an endless loop through Naegi's head. Images of her friends, images of past events she once went through, all of these things coming together and culminating in a climax. It finally made sense to Naegi after all this time!_

_Everything that she had witnessed, all the joy, the sadness, all those little details that had played out before her in her head, they all merged together in a single answer: Everyone's memories had been erased from their time at Hope's Peak Academy. This was the ultimate truth that Naegi had finally come to realize._

_There wasn't some mental defense tying to keep her stress from traumatizing her again, it wasn't just some "dream" like Ikusaba thought of, not realizing at the moment that Ikusaba did truly know of the past events, but a memory. A memory of all her time spent at Hope's Peak Academy from the beginning to end._

…

…

It was at that time that Naegi, in real life, winced to herself while lying in bed in the Nurse's Office. She had yet to wake up, and she couldn't feel herself waking up anytime soon. But as she rested her head upon the soft pillow, her mouth spoke quietly out loud through her subconscious, uttering a single phrase.

"Our… memories…"

Nothing escape the puppet master's eyes or ears. No matter how silent she was being, regardless of the curtain around Naegi covering her person, those words were heard and recorded for the Puppet Master's own use. Behind the screens of those cameras, the person watching all this was biting their own lip. Naegi just uttered the single phrase that she didn't want to ever hear escape her lips. They leaned back in their chair, chewing on their thumbnail with irritation on their face.

"Fuck, this is bad…" They grumbled. No sooner had they uttered these words did a sinister smirk cover their lips. "Oh wells! It's on to pwan-B!"

…

…

…

*****_**Diiing dooong…***_

_***diiiing doooong…***_

The familiar ringing tune on went off throughout the hallways and floors of the school. None of the students looked the least bit amused to hear it, not that they could be blamed anymore.

_**"May I have your attention please? We have an important announcement to make. All students please head to the Gymnasium post-haste!"**_

"…"

"…"

"…"

Monokuma leaned in closer to the camera, making his appearance over the monitor enlarge.

_**"Hey, didn't you hear me? All students report to the Gymnasium for-"**_

"Ah cram it out your blow hole." Owada grumbled crossing his arms. Monokuma was a little surprised by such a remark.

_**"Excuse me? Did I just hear you correctly?"**_

"Why don't you come here in person and find out?" He retorted, cracking his knuckles.

"We're tired of you and your stupid games!" Asahina yelled.

"We're not playing your games anymore, and we're not leaving Naegi by herself." Even Yamada was putting on a brave face, despite the sweat he couldn't keep from flowing down his forehead.

"And we're not killing anymore people." Kirigiri announced. Monokuma grumbled inwardly. He knew she was the brains behind this little "revolt". "We're done with your games, and we're done with you. There will be no more trials, or murders."

Kirigiri grinned mentally, even though she didn't show it. She could feel the anger building up behind Monokuma's plastered grin, knowing all the things he could try to pull off or schemes he would push to trick the students into playing into his paws. She was prepared for just about anything he could throw at her, and remained convicted through her cause.

She just wasn't prepared for this one.

_**"Ohhhhh, woe is me." **_Monokuma whined, pretending to wipe his eyes clear of any tears. _**"What kind of students have I raised to make you all act like this?"**_

"Half of them are dead because of you you sonavabitch!" Owada grumbled, squeezing his fists again.

_**"Oh, details, details. To be honest, I actually had a present for you guys."**_

"Eh? A present?" The poor geek that was Yamada couldn't help but sound a little curious at the statement.

_**"For you Kirigiri, to be precise." **_Kirigiri eyed him suspiciously. Not one of his gifts ever involved anything _good_ for the students. If this gift involved Kirigiri herself, it definitely proved just how desperate he was getting to rouse the surviving classmates, but it also worried her as to what he thought would convince her to show up.

"What are you talking about…?" She questioned.

_**"Oh Kirigiri, don't act like you don't know."**_ Monokuma grinned. No amount of acting or trickery could fool the almighty 'Kuma. He knew she was slowly breaking away from looking too curious. It excited him. _**"I just thought you would've wanted to had a big, warm, family hug from daddy."**_

For the first time, much to Monokuma's grinning delight, Kirigiri's face was overcome with a fulfilling sense of fear and dread. She couldn't believe it, and he wanted it that way. Out of all the threats to possibly make against her, all the schemes she could expect him to use, she never thought he would be twisted enough to bring her father into all of this. The fact he even knew about her after at all, just proved how far and cynical his twisted mind was.

"D-Daddy…?"She stuttered.

If only to pull on her heartstrings even more, Monokuma brought up a framed-picture from off the screen, admiring it deeply with a cheeky grin. He had absolutely no trouble with this sudden revelation, and was admiring it possibly more than he was the picture itself. In the mean time, Kirigiri herself couldn't believe what the picture was.

It was her. Her as a little girl. She was in it, giggling happily, with her arms held out, while being lifted in her father's own arms. They were both happy from the looks of it, unless it was just some photoshopped or re-imaged picture Monokuma cooked up, which she knew wasn't the case. It was a genuine, 100% real picture, that displayed her and the happiness she once had in the past, her time before that of more-recent life, before she grew into the job she came to know.

She was a renowned detective. Her entire family tree consisted of nothing but detectives. But her father had left her, not wanting to be a slave to the family name by following in their footsteps. He didn't want to abandon his daughter, and Kirigiri was fully aware of that, but he still left her, and that's all she cared about.

She wanted to abandon her own father, she remembered that now. She wanted to disown herself from his side of the family, to firmly state that she was no longer his daughter. It was one of her reasons for being here! So how the hell did Monokuma already have this information, AND seem to know of her relationship to her father?!

_**"Huff, you gotta admire the choreography behind all this." **_Monokuma commented as he awed at the picture. He brought it carefully closer to the screen itself so everyone had a better look. _**"I mean really, for anyone to have a HEADMASTER such as him for a father, you must be pretty proud, Kirigiri."**_

That announcement alone was enough to entice the rest of the students. Did they just hear that part correctly?

"H-Headmaster?" Asahina repeated in a questionable tone. "K-Kirigiri, what is he talking about?"

_**"Oh, don't get any ideas now." **_Monokuma said, interrupting any line of thoughts suddenly brewing in the students' minds. _**"This, B-E-A-UTIFUL ball of fur isn't being controlled by that whacko. In fact, I personally FIRED him myself before this all started."**_ To his excitement, Kirigiri stepped forward, closer to the monitor as if in a trance.

"W-What did…What did you do to my father?" She hesitated to ask.

She hated her father for what he had done, or at least resented him to a degree. Monokuma had definitely planned for this eventuality at some point, because somehow, even he knew Kirigiri had never seen the picture he kept with him before. Just seeing it alone was bringing up so many conflicting feelings that she couldn't describe, and it angered her to find an understanding behind it all.

_**"Oh, don't worry." **_He purposely teased. _**"I guarantee you, he's all in one piece, waiting in the Gymnasium himself."**_

"Hey wait a minute!" Yamada yelled, catching Monokuma's attention. "Are you saying you _aren't_ the headmaster of this academy?"

Kirigiri was brought back to focus by this announcement. The fact it brought her back to this reality just proved to her how distracting her emotions were. Her emotions were the one thing she could never allow to interfere with a mission, so it didn't help really when someone else pointed out her current distraction without meaning to.

_**"Headmaster, the Puppet Master, you guys just keep giving me one title after another." **_Monokuma sighed, swaying his paws. _**"I'm not THE Headmaster if that's what you mean, but I am YOUR headmaster to be precise. You'll just have to come down to find out what happened to him…"**_

"Ngh…" Kirigiri bit her lip, squeezing her hands angrily. She was angered by these recent developments, but she was at least clear-headed enough to not let them get to her personally. "N-No…We're not leaving Naegi behind, and that's final!" The sight of him grumbling to himself brought a small amount of victory to Kirigiri, but not as much after these recent developments.

_**"Uggghhhh!" **_He groaned. _**"There's just no pleasing you guys, is there? Fine!" **_The students watched with a little curiosity as he began typing into the computer monitor once more.

_***Diiing dooong* **_

_***Your e-Handboks have been updated. Please refer to the rules and guidelines for further updates.* **_

Whether it was some masterminded trick or a blessing in disguise, one of the students could believe what they were currently reading.

_**Rule #12: For the next 24 Hours, No harm or death can befallen Naegi Makoto, with an exception of the rules pertaining to a class trial- PERIOD!**_

There were some glances tossed back and forth between the students, many of whom were uneasy about this. This had to be some trick, they knew that for a fact. But with Monokuma being who they knew him to be, they knew Naegi was officially safe, no matter what the puppet master said he would do. He was to abide by his own rules, and had absolutely no choice in the matter for whatever his reasoning was.

...That's what they wanted to keep telling themselves, anyway, but they were too smart. Sadly enough, they were a bit disappointed that they knew the puppet master so well, otherwise they would've gladly gone along with the plan. They've been through so much at this point that they knew they couldn't trust him anymore, even less than they barely had to begin with.

"We're still not tempted, here..." Asahina stated, albeit somewhat at a cross.

"What are we to do though?" Yamada muttered, thinking he wouldn't be overheard. "It's the school's rules, and you know we can't break them without being punished!"

_**"Tubby's got a point there." Monokuma grinned.**_

"Hey!"

_**"And I generously gave Naegi a 24-Hour shield practically. This means for the next 24 hours, no one can kill her!" **_He declared with a smirk. _**"Look, how about this? I guarantee this'll just be a motive for the next murder, and no harm will come to absolutely anyone."**_ He decreed.

Kirigiri's brow twitched without the others knowing. She was as much at a cross as Asahina found herself being in, perhaps even more so. She knew, to a greater depth, of the puppet master's mind. He wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted, but he also wouldn't allow minor revolts like this to go unpunished if his patience wore thin. If it meant saving the rest of the students, she knew what she had to do.

"...You guarantee absolutely no harm will come to Naegi while we're gone?" She finally spoke up, catching the others by surprise.

"Huh?!" They all stammered. Monokuma grinned at this with a Wisk of his Martini glass.

_**"Cross my heart, and hope one of you commit another murder!"**_ He replied with glee.

"Or to Ikusaba?" Kirigiri added thoroughly. She wasn't going to let a single loophole escape by her unnoticed.

_**"Oooohh, darn, this completely ruins everything I was planning on- OF COURSE I WON'T HURT OR KILL HER EITHER!" **_The bear roared impatiently. _**"Just hurry along to the gym room before I change my mind!"**_ After long last, he finally shut down the monitor in the hallway.

The others knew what each other was thinking as they looked back to one another. None of them had a choice at this point. If they continued to press on, especially after getting what little they wanted in exchange in terms of Naegi's and Ikusaba's safety, they knew they would end up pushing their luck. Monokuma had desperately wanted them to come to the gym for the new announcement, and he wasn't going to accept "No" no matter what had happened.

It didn't make anyone else feel better, naturally. They knew they would be forced to, but they couldn't just leave Naegi behind either. They also couldn't just carry her with them at the time due to her currently feverish state, out of fear of making it worse for the ill girl. There was something going on here and everyone wanted to know what, they just lacked the precious gift of time being on their side.

"Dude, we're not really going to-" Owada tried to argue.

"We don't have a choice." Kirigiri interrupted in a firm tone. "If we refuse, he could threaten our lives or Naegi's even more. We can't just refuse at this point."

"B-But we can't just leave Naegi, either!" Asahina frowned. "She could be in danger and-"

"I know." Kirigiri interrupted again. She took the initiative as she forced herself to practically march off onto the gym. "But if we don't go at all, all of our lives are on the line, and it would mean no one else could help Naegi afterwards."

"...She's gota point..." Yamada groaned with a sigh.

She really did to be quite fair. If they refused to at this point, they would all most likely be executed. And because they were the only ones requested to go to the gym, that meant Naegi and Ikusaba would be the remaining two students within this entire school, and with Naegi having no knowledge of Ikusaba's current status, she would be completely alone within this forsaken school.

It truly did pain Kirigiri to force her own two feet onward, but she knew she didn't have a choice. In the case of the lesser of two evils, she would rather get this done soon and over with and then rush back to Naegi, as opposed to risking her life further by never being there for her again. It was an unfair choice of circumstances, but it at least felt right to her, as well as the remaining students.

They would soon regret it.

...

...

...

"Monokuma? Monokuma!" Kirigiri yelled out in annoyance.

The students had been waiting for at least two minutes upon arriving at the gym room, filling Kirigiri with an increasing sense of unease. She ran the statistics in her head; even if someone was to run all the way from the puppet master's hiding place, down to the first floor, and then wherever they were hidden, which she was sure was the Data Processing room, it would take at least five minutes to run all the way down, and another five to run all the way back, not even factoring in how long it would take with the extra weight to carry.

Whether or not she was aware of it, Ikusaba proved to be a viable test subject for that little experiment Kirigiri ran through her head. It still didn't ease any of Kirigiri's building tension though.

"Hey, asshole!" Owada shouted out angrily. "Hurry the fuck up or we're leaving again!"

"Calm down, calm down, get some patience why don'tcha?" A familiar voice cackled.

Their attention was brought to the center stage by an all-too-familiar voice. Not surprisingly, and much more not cared for, Monokuma made his usual appearance, jumping onto the small podium on stage in his typical fashion. If there was any single change to all of this, it was the new box he was carrying with him, gift-wrapped in a bright green wrapping paper, and in the form of a single present.

"I'm only two feet tall you know," he continued to grumble, "it's hard carrying a box around half your size."

"What's in it?" Asahina asked a little curious, tapping her chin.

"Upupupu! There, see? That's the enthusiasm I want to see!" He chuckled, holding it out. "I believe I promised a small gift to Kirigiri herself, did I not? He grinned.

Kirigiri shifted her eyes around to the other students, but said nothing as she walked her way towards the podium. She didn't care about any of his silly little "gifts" that he hand, nor did she care about this meeting itself for that matter. Surprisingly, it wasn't Naegi she wanted to find out about at this new Announcement Meeting, but the whereabouts of her father, the real Headmaster of this school.

At first, she had feared from what Alter Ego had once said to her. She feared the person in question might have been her own father, no matter how much she convinced herself that couldn't be the case. Deep down, she knew she held some small former feeling for the man, even if he did abandon her as such, and if that trait was carried along, she also knew he wouldn't have thrown her into this twisted game like this, or at least not with her as one of the participants.

Knowing for a fact that couldn't be the case, Kirigiri's heart wavered in anticipation as she slowly undid the knot that bound the box together. What could be in it? A clue to her father's current status? Some weapon Monokuma wanted to secretly give her for the next murder? She doubted that last bit as the both of them were fully aware, that no matter what happened, Kirigiri would never become a murderer in this twisted little game.

With one small tug and a slip through the knot, the ribbon came undone, allowing the box to finally open.

...

"Kirigiri...don't open it..." Ikusaba begged as she watched the screen.

Her eyes shook with fear as she watched the monitor. Even though she was, literally, tied up at the moment, Monokuma felt that it wouldn't be fair to not include her in whatever the meaning consisted of. He took the grand liberty of displaying everything that was going on in the middle of the meeting. There was no way he wanted Ikusaba of all people to miss this grand _spectacle_ that he had ready for them.

"**DON'T OPEN IT**!" Ikusaba shouted, only for her cries to fall on deaf ears.

...

"...Hngh!"

_*thud*_

_*rattle*_

Kirigiri let out a muffled yelp of shock, dropping the gift itself as the contents of the box rolled out. There was plenty of its contents to go around, scattering it around for the rest to see.

"Wh-what..." Asahina was lost for words, shaking from fright and covering her mouth in disbelief. "W-What is it?"

"Upupupu! Gyahahahahahaha!" Monokuma cackled violently, kicking his legs back and forth as he held his sides. "What? Haven't any of you ever seen a **skeleton** before? After all, I did promise her that DADDY was waiting for her in the gym!"

"D-Dude…" Even Owada was lost in this, staring at the remains in fear. "Th-That's fucked up!"

"H-H-Ho-Ho-How could you possibly do something like this?" Yamada shouted with panic.

None of their reactions was what the puppet master was looking for though- it was Kirigiri's. It was perfection to its highest degree, at least to the point where Monokuma had expected her to be. She could only gaze at the remains with blank, hallow, eyes, trembling slightly as she suddenly collapsed to her knees. Her gaze was being met with the horrific gaze of the skeleton at hand, seeming as though it was starting right back at her.

Kirigiri couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. But she had to believe it. She had truly, and for the last time, underestimated the Puppet Master's cruelty. She was just in too much shock at all of this to utter a single word.

And how could she?

The puppet master; the one person responsible for setting up this Mutual Killing game and trapping them all within this cursed school. The one sole reason why all of their lives had become a living and virtual hell for all of the world to see. He tricked them numerous times, always seemed to be one step ahead, and always had things going according to his plan to some degree. And now, right in front of everyone, he was "reuniting" Kirigiri with her father, the one person she came all this way just to see.

There was nothing else to see by this point, other than the somewhat-charred remains of his bones. Every single bone, every single piece of him that had truly remained, it was all out there front and center for her to witness. So many mixed and confused feelings she had, so many things she wanted to say to him, half of which she didn't know anymore after seeing the picture he apparently always kept. So many lost opportunities to reconnect with him in the end of all this.

He was just out here on display, for her to gaze at. Not once did she think the Puppet master would sink so low as to show her the remains of her father, the man she once knew. Not once did she ever think his cruelty was without any sort of limits. He was the epiphany of a madman- no. He wasn't a madman.

It was just pure Evil that handed her this _gift_.

She was so caught up in her horror that she didn't even bother looking at anything else, like the monitor above that changed to another horrific view.

"Let the exciting next Motive, begin!" Monokuma announced.

"NAEGI!" Not even the united shouts of her other friends could snap Kirigiri out of her stupor. If it did, she would've seen the contents displayed above her, or the sight of Owada suddenly bolting out the gym door towards the Nurse's Office, knowing it was already too late.

There, Naegi sat in a chair, in some form of large metallic capsule. The details of what it was were unknown, but that didn't matter to the students. It was the same setting and device that was once used to execute Kirigiri's own father, Jin Kirigiri.

Tied to a chair with a rope around her arms, tight against her wrists, ankles nearly clenched against the legs of the chair, and a blindfold covering her eyes. Her face still appeared a little flush, supporting the idea that the fever was still running through her systems.

As to whether or not she was awake at the time would be impossible to tell though, seeing the cloth tightened around her eyes. She wouldn't be able to open them even if she was awake. Nobody cared about that at the time, their only concern was for Naegi's condition, especially Ikusaba.

She truly went too far this time, at least that's what Ikusaba kept telling her. To throw the remains of Kirigiri's father practically in her face, and to use Naegi as a hostage for whatever bizarre motive he was using this time, and she knew what he wanted. With all the things adding up by this point, he officially declared, that if Ikusaba wasn't killed soon, the Naegi would be sacrificed in exchange.

And as if only to mock the students, there was a timer displayed right over Naegi, counting down the next 24-Hours, the exact deadline in which "No harm or Death can befallen Naegi", as Monokuma promised.

Kirigiri had _reunited_ with her father. Monokuma had blissfully thrown Ikusaba out to the sharks. Naegi would be sacrificed in the next 24 hours if no one else was murdered, while continuing to be plagued by the oncoming memories that rushed back to her. Who Monokuma wanted dead was more obvious now, more than ever before.

If it wasn't obvious enough, then the small Tag on Kirigiri's gift made it all but impossible not to find out.

-To Kyoko Kirigiri

-From Mukuro Ikusaba.

…

….

…

A/N: Hoooooooooooooooooooooofta! What a week x/! Hoooooof! Ok, now NO ONE can say "it's been over a week since my last update"- reason being due to the fact I posted TWO CHAPTERS on the same day as Monday XP Part of the reason I don't think any of you checked or responded to the newest chp yet XP. Either way, that makes up for about 2 chps per week, once every several days, so nyah XP!

As some of you may have noticed, WE'VE DONE IT! WE'VE REACHED _**100 REVIEWERS!...er…REVIEWS!**_ *sniff* I'm so proud of you all X*) But mostly me ^^ lol XP Seriously though, I want to thank all of you who have supported this fanfic through and through. Through all the spelling errors, through all the parts that might not make sense with the story, through all the Dark Rituals and blood sacrifices at-….err…wait that was for next Saturday's meeting, FORGET I SAID THAT!

Lol, seriously though people, thank each and every one of you who've supported this fanfic through and through X) I can completely say I feel reinvigorated, because I've finally reached the end of DGR: Another Episode (as in watched all of it XP) on youtube ^^ It was such an aspiring and awesome story…and I really fear it might not come out in America for certain reasons X/ because of this, I want to ensure that I at least get a fanfic version of the game out! And if not, then may Westerner and Explosive Kingdom die a thousand times over!

Speaking of dying…..well, not that there's any actual relationship at this point, but my birthday is THIS Wednesday ^^! 22 baba! WHOOOO! As I promised earlier in the month, if anyone does a "special one-shot fic" for this series as a birthday gift to me, I'll return the favor in 10,000 LBS OF GOLD!...oh wait I lost that….THE MAP TO ATLANTIiiiiii…oh frick I forgot about that bonfire thing….Ok ok ok, this time for sure. The secret to Immortality! And to prove I really have it, allow me to disclose the information right no-

*Data corrupted*

*Data Corrupted*

-and that's how you become an immortal like me ^^ As an additional gift to that, I will do a bonus episode fanfic for you in favor, and as my way of saying thanks ^^ Which is especially saying a lot because I don't plan on doing bonus eps anymore until the end of this fic…maybe ^^….. but I'm willing to make an exception, at least for now, for this one ^^

Once again, thank you all for your continued support, and stay tuned for more heroism and…..well….acutally not much "heroism" here since they're all everyday teens but you get the picture XP

Rev, fav, and enjoy as always ^^!


	36. Newest Announcement!

Hey guys, it's your favorite Author- *stares at empty rows upon rows of seats*

*chirp*

*chirp*

*chirp*

...Well at least the crickets are still here for my fanfic announcement.

Cricket: Oh wait, this was the fanfic meeting? Sorry wrong room *hops away*

No, wait! I was kidding! Wait! WAAAAAIT! Damn it X(!

*sigh* well anyway, what up guys ^^ I know updates have been slow as of late, and i noticed there've been a few quiet people out in the review area- then again, as I realized, 2-3 times so far, I've deleted a chp before each post, hence forth people have been reading in the same general area, and long story short, it's been preventing you guys from reviewing to your liking XP Sorry about that.

As for my absence, well...it's school X/ a lot of annoying things, and I've been physically tired as of late (even for a freakign 5-day-weekened i recently had X/...) and just feel tired for the time being X/ Regardless though, I've come to this announcement for 3 special reasons!

1!...I'm the author so i kinda have to XP

2- I'm actually hosting a bit of a contest-related thing atm :P As you all know, DGR:AE is awesome, and as some of you should know, it'll be the direct sequel to this fanfic ^^ huzzah! To be a legit anime/game, I want to include an intro ^^ Problem is, I'm already busy with the outlined-plot for this fanfic, so I'm still busy atm XP So, i naturally did the most logical thing i could think of ^^...and after being convicted of an armed robbery for 20-days straight (apparently they bought that I was retarded in court so I got a shorter sentence XP...wait a minute...they were insulting me?!), I decided to do the next best thing, and I'm going to hold a little contest :D!

The rules are simple ^^ EVERYONE CAN JOIN :D! That's the easy rule ^^ For this "Contest", the rules are as follow- using the music played at the end of DGR:AE as the intro music, create an overall outline of an anime-based intro and fill in the scenes to your liking ^^ For that, as the outline of this, when you're writing down the lyrics, use **_bold italics _**for the writing, and use _italics_ for the scene description ^^ Be creative, and have your own fun with it ^^ Keep in mind though, like all intros, they only use about a minute-and-a-half of the actual music that plays, so you're only allowed to use 1.30 mins of the song at a max- it can be shorter too, buuuuuuut, let's be honest- the longer the better XP

To help fill in ideas of the scene, here are some notes to make about the new fanfic (SPOILER WARNING FOR FUTURE FANFIC- but not by much that isn't expected by this point XP)

1- Ikusaba is replacing Fukawa as Komaru's partner

2- JUNKO IS STILL ALIVE O_o!

3- Add a pinch of salt-...wait that was the recipe...oh yeah! Naegi has gone missing within Towa City, meaning she'll also make an appearance in the game :P

4- The REMNANTS of despair (ALL OF THEM) wil be making appearances too O_O

5-...i'll get back to you on that XP

So overall, a-minute-30 max, be creative and have fun with it, and when submitting it, obviously just send me the message of your intro-idea via PM (note- YOU'RE writing the intro, I'm not, so have it completed naturally XP).

As for the reward for this, the sender will get the "SPECIAL" Honor, of having that intro displayed at the beginning of each Episode/Chapter ^^! I was thinking of money or another "Secret of immortality" bit, but the SOIAFAI (Secret of immortality agency for angered Immortals...which doesn't exist...) kinda got pissed and sued me the last time for joking about it, so i can't joke about it anymore (even though it's a truth this time X/) so i thought having an intro of your own creation being made public would be rather fun to witness ^^

Now for my 3rd announcement- I'm also going to be working on another new fanfic as of late (soon as i get it posted at least XP) so updates on this may slow down...or speed up ^^! it's to keep up the "writing juices" flowing and all ya know ^^?

Anyway, use the time to leave any reviews you wanted to comment about for the last several chps if you had any :P till next time guys ^^ expect updates soon! (and real ones, not announcements XP)

PS: As I was just informed, for those looking for the specific version of the song (I think), it's titled "Progressive"- it's the song that plays during the ending credits (which I personally downloaded onto my phone because of how awesome it is X)! )


	37. Face to Face: Naegi meets Junko

A/N: As a further note to my recent friend who's started reading this fanfic, when you get this message, HI STITCHTHEBEST36 ^^!

Enjoy!

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_"Naegiiii?" Kirigiri called out through the hallways as she searched._

_Nobody could explain it at this point. Naegi Makoto, the Super High School Level Good Luck, had virtually dropped off the fact of the Earth!...Well at least it felt like that to Kirigiri at the moment, but that was besides the point. For the last half-hour alone, Kirigiri, Asahina, Owada, Hagakure, and several others of Naegi's friends, including Leon and Yamada who still wanted to make it up to her after finding out she was a chick, have been searching for the missing girl who had suddenly disappeared on them. _

_Kirigiri couldn't figure out or explain it. After dropping into her bedroom for a quick check, noticing she had yet to come to class that morning, Kirigiri discovered the room to be completely empty! Not only that, but there were scratch marks on the side of Naegi's doors. From what little she could gather with the lack of evidence, someone had to have come to her room last night, and possibly abducted her. The idea for such a theory might seem a little odd, given the school-like setting at this time, but with so many students with extraordinary talents around, she couldn't say it was completely impossible._

_But who would want to kidnap Naegi?_

_If anything, Naegi was the one who was a victim here, and much before her abduction two nights ago. Makoto Naegi was the pure definition of the average student within these grand halls. She struggled endlessly with tests and projects on a daily basis, worked all night until she practically passed out on her own just to finish something, and studied like crazy for the last several months, on the very exam that could literally "Make-or-Break" her future. _

_Beyond all that, there were horrific rumors spreading around the school as of late. Rumors pertaining to Naegi, more specifically how she managed to get into such a prestigious school like this. It was impossible to tell who had started the rumors or why, but all they did know is that whoever did start them, they apparently had to have some form of grudge against her. _

_As to what the rumors were about, it was some ridiculous and ominous lie about how Naegi ended up sleeping with someone with connections in this school, just to get accepted. It was a completely horrific lie to so much as think of, and even more horrific to have such a lie directed towards a girl like Naegi, who worked tirelessly day in and day out, just to keep her grades up in this school, make some friends, and more importantly, keep herself from being expelled from this school for a failing grade. _

_So the big question was why would someone create such a lie, and who had all this hatred directed at Naegi? She hasn't done anything to anyone within the school, heck, even Kirigiri and the rest of her friends only found out several days ago that Leon and Yamada were responsible for spreading them to begin with, but not the creators of said lie. If anything, Naegi should be the ones targeting whoever started these rumors or the people who've made her life harder, not the other way around. _

_And knowing Naegi, she couldn't have possibly summoned whoever was doing this to get revenge. She was a lot like Fujsaki at this time; shy, squeamish, quiet around others. It was easy for her to chat alongside her friends and all, but around other people she wouldn't know what to say, which was understandable in this case. After all, with nearly everyone shunning her due to her title alone, she couldn't figure out what to say without possibly damaging her reputation further, which is easier than it sounded._

_A good number of Ultimate-Titled students belonged to some group or organization in one form or another. Even people with a title like the Ultimate Soldier, which was Ikusaba's in this case, no one would consider that she was an elite mercenary of Fenrir, a group of soldiers who were in the elite class like her. With no background knowledge of anyone's family or their relationships to multiple parties, it was hard to have a conversation without possibly insulting every student in one manner or another._

_Which meant at this point, the only way Naegi could have offended anyone was by being absolutely quiet and shy in front of them- and that was just stupid._

_"Kirigiri!" Asahina called from down the hall, running quickly to her with Owada in tow. _

_"Did you find her?" Kirigiri asked, slightly worried. The frowns on their faces said it all for her._

_"Don't you think she'd be with us if we did?" Owada groaned rubbing his head. _

_*thump!*_

_"Ow!" Owada yelped, rubbing his stomach where Asahina elbowed it. _

_"You don't have to be so rude about it..." She grumbled._

_"Hey, I'm just as irritated about it, alright?!" Owada yelped back. "And what about your end of things? Any idea where she went?" Regrettably, Kirigiri sighed as she shook her head. _

_"No. I can barely tell if she was abducted or if something else happened to her." She replied._

_Asahina blinked curiously. "Barely?"_

_"There were scratch marks in-between the doorway, but I can't tell anything else about who might have abducted her or why."_

_"Ghhhh...Damn it!" OWada cussed, beating on the locker with the side of his fist. _

_*BAM*_

_"Why the hell would anyone want to mess with Naegi? She hasn't done anything to anyone!"_

_"Yeah, that's true..." It wasn't a clear sight, but with that sudden remembrance, some spark of thought suddenly flowed into Kirigiri's mind. Asahina was the first one to notice this, too. _

_"Something wrong?" She asked. Kirigiri remained silent for a few more moments, never losing her expression as she replied._

_"Do you... suppose this is Naegi's fault to begin with?" She wondered. Asahina and Owada looked at each other with the same perplexed look in their eyes._

_"What do you mean?" Owada rubbed his head trying to comprehend. "I mean, they abducted Naegi and all, so who else would they have a grudge against?" _

_"I'm not entirely saying they don't have a grudge against her," Kirigiri clarified, "what I'm saying is that what if one of us did something, and her abductor held her responsible because of it?"_

_"Oooooh, I see what you're saying." Asahina gave an assured nod as she tapped her chin. "If one of us did something to help her, someone might've taken it personally against her instead." _

_"Well that just sounds retarded," Owada mumbled crossing his arms, "if they wanted to take their anger out on someone, it should be the guys doing it for Naegi, not Naegi herself."_

_"You're saying you did something that might have caused this?" Asahina asked. Owada just shrugged._

_"How should I know? Most I ever did for her was keep the creeps away from her but that's it."_

_"You didn't start a fight against anyone or anything?" Kirigiri added with concern._

_"Not unless they bothered Naegi first in some way. Most of those creeps keep trying to get a glimpse of her...you-know...when her skirt gets pulled up by whatever."_

_"You can say "panties" in front of us you know, it doesn't bother us as long as you're just helping her." Asahina actually sounded a little more irritated that he would dodge the subject than say it directly._

_"Speaking o' which, what's your deal?" Owada asked back to Kirigiri. "Your pop's the head of this school, isn't he? Can't he give you security access or something?" _

_The same question actually phased past Asahina herself. Now that she thought of it, being the daughter of the head of this school, Kirigiri should at least have some access to the things surrounding this school. It sounded like an easy matter just to ask her father for access to the school's security footage for a case like this. But all it did do was turn the violet girl away, brushing the hair out of her eyes with a sense of unease._

_"I can't-...We, can't use the security cameras to check." Kirigiri's tone sounded a little tense. _

_"Why not? This could be an actual crime-related thing here, sounds like a good excuse to use 'em." Owada pointed out. The unease building up on Kirigiri's face seemed to be giving off an eerie vibe. There was something she had yet to tell the others that pained her to reveal._

_"I mean...we really...can't." Kirigiri frowned slightly as she turned away. "I only found this out recently from my father, so make sure it sticks between the three of us." She paused for a few seconds to let out a cough, clearing her throat to speak clearly. "There's been a...breach...of the security lately. None of the security cameras have been working for the last several weeks."_

_As this was an expected reaction, Asahina's and Owada's eyes widened in shock. Several weeks without any security?! And this wasn't just some lame government-waste of money, this was a high-security measure that most schools such as this were required to have. And for the principal to go on for the last several weeks without ever informing anyone? What was he thinking?!_

_Out of this, Kirigiri was the one who was a little more upset with her father over the matter. Her reasons for coming to this school...changed, over time. She began to ignore the grand issue she once had with her father, and had warmed up enough to at least have a little chat occasionally every now and then with him. She still had yet to forgive him for what he did, but for him to suddenly go and hide something like this behind her back? That was uncalled for. _

_Even if he left his family, Kirigiri was a proud member of the Family's line of business. She wasn't just in this school because of her title as the "Ultimate Detective", she came to close loose ends in her life that continued to bother her without end. Yet, after all the time she spent bonding with him, she at least felt like there should've been some form of trust between the two. Because of this, she took it a little more than just personal that he would confide something of such a matter to himself without telling her, and possibly asking her for assistance. _

_"Dude, what the hell!" Owada yelled, squeezing his fist just to keep the rest of his anger inside. "Isn't there some law about this sorta thing? Your dad should've called someone or something!"  
><em>

_"I have to agree with Owada on this," Asahina added, rubbing her shoulders uneasily, "there's been a lot of weird things going on with this school lately, and I don't think it's just a coincidence anymore..." _

_"I know, I know." Kirigiri replied, sighing. "There's a lot of things I need to clear up with him lately, but right now, let's just focus on where Naegi could be-?" It took Kirigiri all this time, but she finally realized something was out of the picture. "Hey, where's Ikusaba?" _

_That same question just phased the other two as they looked around. Like Kirigiri, Ikusaba was a surprisingly genuine friend to Naegi. Despite her backgrounds and quiet origins, she surprisingly warmed up to Naegi within a relatively short amount of time for some reason. If anything, she should've been looking along with the other two this whole time._

_"Wasn't she with you?" Owada asked._

_"I haven't seen her since the classroom." Asahina tried to think." Maybe she went off to look for Naegi somewhere?" _

_..._

_..._

_*creeeeea-*_

_The sudden noise sent shivers down the spines of both girls, knowing that their captor had finally returned. While neither of them could fully understand what he wanted with them, granted that Naegi had a fairly good assumption to a regrettable degree, they were not looking forward to anything this sicko was planning. isshiki Madarai, the Super High School Level Bodyguard, had wanted these two for whatever twisted reasons the mind could think of. _

_"Why does he want this Ryoko girl?" Naegi could never figure out as she kept asking. herself She didn't seem like anyone important, not to sound rude or anything, and she barely had any knowledge of her own history either._

_From what little information Naegi could gather, Ryoko Otonashi was an amnesiac. She had no recollection of her short-term or long-term memory, being forced to keep everything down in a journal she had always kept with her from time to time. Whatever was written in that journal held the keys to Ryoko's past, and that was only if she believed it or not. _

_Half the time, Ryoko couldn't even tell if she was the actual one writing in this journal, feeling like it could be someone else's doing. Naegi was at least sure she was the one writing it, but it was hard to convince someone who forgot their name more than half the time. Heck, she couldn't even tell if she forgot her memory at all during the last half-hour alone, not understanding just how far her memory could go before she forgot it again._

_"Sssso, so, ssso..." He hissed eerily as he walked in. Naegi's gaze froze at what he was dragging along with him- a sledge hammer, like the ones used to pile pikes into the ground, but small enough to actually carry. "How do we do this?" He grinned, glancing back and forth between the two girls. "Do we have some fun firssst," just staring at Naegi alone as he said that made her skin crawl, "or do we work up an appetite first?" _

_Naegi's eyes went hallow at that remark. She knew, deep down, what sort of dark twisted joke he just made under his breath. The thought of it alone was enough to tear up as she moaned. _

_"P-Please, j-just let us go..." Naegi whimpered, grabbing the captor's attention again. "W-We promise we won't tell anyone about this! Ju-Just let us go!" With a slippery approach, which greatly represented his lizard-like tongue, and an amazing speed, Naegi found herself staring right into the eyes of her captor in a split two seconds after. She shuddered with each breath he took upon her face, tearing up more as his disgusting tongue nearly licked the tears right off her face. _

_"Ooooh, Naegi," he chuckled quietly with a grin, "do you think I have a personal grudge against you for what you did?" Naegi was too frightened to ask about anything, especially the confusion of the topic. "It might seem hard to believe, my little Naegi, but as a matter of fact, I adore you." That was possibly the last thing Naegi would ever expect some psychotic captor to say._

_"Ad-d-dore?" Naegi stuttered as she shook._

_"That flawless skin, those fearful eyes...everything about you and your weak body...I just want it sssso bad." _

_"Hn-hnnhnmmghhh!" Naegi's eyes widened at the next following "gesture" he made. _

_Ryoko could never be more disgusted by such a sight, but even she wasn't as disgusted as Naegi probably was. For Naegi, it could be considered some pain of eternal torment with what he was doing; she felt like gagging endlessly. At this very moment, Naegi took back all previous statements and comments about feeling his tongue lick across her face- that opinion was replaced as she felt his tongue slide practically to the back of her throat. _

_She kicked and groaned with a pained blush across her face. It felt so disgusting to her, feeling Isshiki's long tongue stretching far enough into her mouth to make her wanna gag. The mere slime and strokes of it against her gums were far beyond disturbing, the saliva of his tongue scraping against her insides. No matter how hard she tried to turn her head away, or how much she shook, he wouldn't lose the grip he had within his hands. _

_She was his captive, and like he said, she was weak. _

_"Hnnghhhhghhh!" Naegi gargled as she tried to breath. _

_For what few brief seconds he did give her some air, he spoke, "I can't help it if you _**_excite_**_ me so much, Naegi." He slurped his lips. "That helplessness about you, that utter loneliness you suffer constantly. No matter how hard you want to deny, you're alone without a single friend around here. And with all this time going off, you're constantly bullied, picked on, and ridiculed to no end. Just face it Naegi- you need someone like me to protect you." _

_Naegi had never been more disgusted in her life. Just what the heck was wrong with this guy?! She couldnt' tell if he had some sick obsession with her, or if he just took enjoyment from tormenting Naegi lie this. _

_And that unruly tongue that kept slithering against the back of her throat, it kept making her feel like she was about to gag and throw up. Was he now trying to suffocate her above everything else? With his face pressed tightly against her, whether intentional or otherwise, she found her airways through her nose being blocked against his skin, making it impossible for her to breathe easily. _

_She couldn't take it! It was wrong in so many ways! Just the feeling of it alone was enough to disgust her to no end! Worse yet, she couldn't even fight back in her current state, seeing how her wrists and ankles were bound tightly together, and even if she did manage to break free, Ryoko was right- there was no way she could overpower someone like him! She was helpless, yet, she still wanted her freedom._

_It was at that moment, only one thought came to her mind._

_*Chnk*_

_"Awwgughhh!" Isshiki growled in anger as he suddenly threw his head back, crawling back a foot or two away._

_"Ack! Ouugh!" Naegi coughed as his tongue speedily slipped out of her mouth, allowing her to breathe again. She spat a little to the side, trying to get a disgusting taste out of her mouth._

_It was the most disgusting plan she could even consider, and to some degree, horrific. She could still taste a small disgusting amount of blood within her mouth, making her wonder how much force she really must've used. It wasn't like she SHOULD be concerned for him of course, despite the fact she did. After all, he was the one forcing himself on her, and she was the one who was taken captive._

_So it was only natural that Naegi bit down on his tongue, and rather hard at that._

_Such a pain must've been unbearable to someone like Isshiki. Normally, if someone ever did bit their tongue, it would hurt to a great degree. It is, after all, one of their more sensitive parts of the human body, what with all those nerves coming from the taste buds and all manner of touch related to it. As such, for someone with a near foot-long tongue like Isshiki, the feeling of the base of his tongue must've been hell. _

_He still deserved it._

_"Naegi!" Ryoko called out worriedly, seeing the coughing fit she was in. Ryoko was actually a little surprised by the development to be honest. Out of anyone, seeing how she earned the title of the Ultimate Analyst, she was surprised Naegi actually had the courage to bite down roughly on someone else's tongue like that. The girl appeared to be stronger than Ryoko ever thought. "Are you okay?"_

_"Geh- blek!" Naegi groaned in disgust as she spat a little more, the fresh blood still on her tongue. "That was disgus-"_

_*WHAP!*_

_"Mhhhhhh!" Naegi cried out in pain against the muffling hand, feeling the agonizing sting from Isshiki's slap that was still planted on her cheek. _

_"YOU V'ITCH!" He slurred, his tongue still writing in pain. He had his hand clamped around her mouth tightly, not willing to take anymore chances with her teeth. Naegi teared up immensely from the overwhelming rage beating off his eyes, followed by the stinging-pain across her face. She only just realized that she pushed him too far. "G'AT'S IT YOU 'UCKING V'ITCH!" His grip tightened with each slurred speech. _

_Naegi's fear doubled in size at that moment. If seeing his angered expression scared her to death itself, then seeing him grin slyly with his rage only made it worse. "'Ine! I was d'onna doe e'ay o'm yo've, vut 'ine!" He gripped her stomach tightly with his free hand, grinning sickeningly as the pain surrounding his tongue lightened at a slower rate. "Yo'u 'anna p'ay 'uff? 'et's pay ROUGH!"_

_"Nggghghhhhh!" Naegi cried out with a muffled shout._

_Naegi's eyes glazed over in horror. This was the moment he was wanting all along, she could tell it just by looking in his eyes. If that didn't help her realize what he was doing, then feeling him pressing against her stomach with his free hand, and feeling as it slowly slid down closer to her waist was all the proof she needed. No amount of kicking her weak legs would get him to stop either, and no amount of muffled shouting would stop what he was doing._

_She could feel it now as she felt him pulling at the side of her panties through the night shirt. He was going to rape her like he wanted, and she couldn't do anything about it. That was all there was to it. His intentions were direly obvious ever since abducting her like this, yet she was too frightened to realize it up till now to notice. She thought she was just some hostage if anything, and this might've been some form of revenge against her or her friends, seeing how they're the ones who became involved with Naegi's life, and ruining any chances for him to "do" anything to her in the past._

_"Mmhhmmhmhmh!" Naegi cried out in terror as she tried thrashing about, with little luck unfortunately. There was only so much you could do to struggle with your hands and feet tied together, and your head practically locked in place. At the same time, when you watched someone sleazily pull your undergarments down to your feet, you couldn't help but do anything you could to struggle. _

_"Leave her alone!" Ryoko shouted angrily. She couldn't see it, but she could perfectly tell what he was trying to do. She didn't care anymore about getting into trouble herself, she knew she couldn't let him treat her like this. There would be no end to the mental scarring he could inflict upon her if something like this happened, and she had to do everything physically in her power to stop him._

_"I already told you bitch," Isshiki grinned menacingly as he slowly slid his hand up her leg, nearing her waist, "you want to play rough, then I'll be sssssure to play ROUGH!"_

_"Mgnghhhh!" There was little doubt any amount of apologizing or begging could stop this lusty beast from what he was trying to do. Like an animal that tagged his prize, he was going to ensure Naegi _**_knew_**_ that she was his forever. _

_No amount of pleading would stop him._

_Naegi was nowhere near strong enough to save herself or Ryoko._

_And nobody could stop him at this moment of his ecstasy. _

_She needed a miracle..._

**_*BANG!*_**

_..._

_..._

_..._

"...Mmmhh..." Naegi groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. The _dream_ seemed to have come to an end after long last, thankfully before it could get any worse for her. She couldn't believe the fortune of what she woke up from, but at the same time, she couldn't help but lament the reality of things;

Everything that she's dreamed about up to this point were not dreams. They were memories.

And as if a scar-inducing dream like that wasn't enough to torment her, then the fact her memories still continued to flow into her head like that did. At least she didn't have to fear about the possibility of physically "remembering" what happened after, but for now, all she was concerned about was her current state of affairs. It was like awakening from one dream, only to enter a more-confusing dream than before.

She was stuck, and she couldn't see anything.

"Where am I...?" She muttered quietly to herself. Her head was still aching a little bit and her cheeks were still flushed. Out of all the possibilities, she could tell she must've been running a fever at this point.

That was the only thing she could recall at the moment. What she wanted to recall was "why was she here,"? She couldn't recall much of anything that happened before hand out of all of this, which wasn't too surprising seeing how she was out of it for at least two days.

From what little she could recall, she remembered just finishing up Oogami's trial for the murder of Celes. She knew Oogami was innocent in reality- she only did it to save Celes, and that made her a hero in a way, not a killer. As her best and closest friend, Asahina was torn up after the ordeal, seeing how one of her friends had sacrificed themselves to prevent Asahina from being a killer. Naegi can vaguely remember helping her back to her bedroom that night, having small chat with her during the time to help ease her nerves and tension. She was ensuring that Asahina remembered that not only should she let Oogami's death be for nothing, but also to remind her that she's still surrounded by close friends around the school itself.

Afterwards, that's when things got a little bit weird for Naegi. After leaving Asahina's room that night, she remembered briefly walking into Ikusaba on the way down the halls to her own room. Surprisingly to her, Ikusaba didn't appear to have any time to chitchat herself as she just passed Naegi, only taking a mere moment to claim that she had to go somewhere, but she would be right back as soon as possible. Being so late into the night Naegi was surprised Ikusaba wanted to go anywhere but back to the bedroom, seeing how they've all had a long and grueling day like today.

That wasn't the part that confused her.

What DID confuse her later on was, after making her way back to her bedroom, she found some note on her door from Ikusaba herself. It claimed she wanted to talk to Naegi about something really important in the lunchroom, ad only to come alone. Finding it confusing, seeing how Ikusaba just passed her entirely as opposed to either stopping at her to chat, or bringing her along with her to wherever she wanted to go, Naegi decided to just shrug it off, thinking it must've been something of grave urgency to be so secretive about it.

Along with all of this, she still had Alter Ego to show Ikusaba to as well. It would've been surprising to Ikusaba that she had Alter Ego to begin with, seeing how Kirigiri told Naegi to bring him/her around everywhere from this point, and keep her with the two of them at all time. She thought it would be the perfect time to fill Ikusaba on in Kirigiri's plan too, since the two of them would naturally be the best choice to guard her at the same time instead of just one at the time.

Because of this, Naegi had nothing to expect from the lunchroom, other than Ikusaba just being there waiting to chat. That's why she was surprised by the end of all things when she didn't see anyone in the lunchroom. Walking into it herself, she didn't recall seeing anyone else within the lunchroom either.

That's when it happened. With what little she remembers, she could recall something from behind her catching her attention. Following this, she also recalls hearing a loud noise from out of nowhere, then everything faded to back.

Next thing she knew, she was experiencing her dreams first hand again as she rested for the next two days, unaware of the immense fever she was running at the time. The next thing she knew, she awakens to find this sudden case playing out before her. She had no idea where she was, only that her limbs felt pinned down to the arms of something, perhaps a chair, and her eyes were shut tight. Either that or something was blocking her view as she couldn't see anything before her, no matter how hard she tried to open her eyes.

"Upupupu..." A familiar voice chuckled. It was strange to Naegi this time around. Usually, it would come in the form of some annoying bear who made everyone's life here miserable. This time around, however, it sounded a bit off to her. It had a sense of familiarity to her, but she couldn't tell why. "Well, well, well, wooks wike someone just woke up!" They spoke in a perky-lisped tone. With the layout of the room being what it was, Naegi had no idea where the sound was coming from. It seemed to practically bounce off the wall, echoing off all around her.

"W-Who's there?" Naegi asked timidly. She was scared, and she had the reason to be after what she narrowly experienced in her dreams. With her current issue presented to her, being immobile in an unfamiliar setting, it was a little too relatable to with her last memory she suffered. She jumped a little in fright as she felt someone grasp the sides of her face. It was a bit tender, to her surprise, also strangely...familiar again.

"D'awwwwww, you didn't forget about me, did you?" They asked. It was really strange to her. Something about this seemed familiar to her, yet she also couldn't tell who the voice belonged to. They were changing the tone of their voice too much for her to realize who it was. Why else couldn't she figure out who she was meeting? "I mean really, I can't say I blame you, all things considered, but I thought I was your faaaaaaavorite person?" They whined.

"F-Favorite?" Naegi wasn't scared that time she stuttered- she seriously had no idea who or what the person was talking about. She continued to shudder again as she felt the person lean Naegi's head forward closer to them. To her surprise, she felt them press Naegi's face against their chest, tightening their hold into a tender hug.

"Upupu, weeeeeeeeeeell all things considered, I guess it's understandable." They grinned, leaning Naegi's head up with the tip of their fingers under her chin. "After all, you're the only one who's come across the truth to a pint where you're dangerous, ya know?"

"Dangerous?" Every word the other person spoke surprised Naegi. Especially with the recent-most description used, Naegi, not once in her life, ever considered herself, or ever been told, that she was dangerous.

"Yea." The voice chirped as they twirled Naegi's hair at the tip of their fingers. "You went through all this trouble, and have experienced so much crap, and yet you continue on. You really are a danger to my plans, and this isn't even including the memories I took."

"Memor...!" Naegi's eyes lit up immediately, or at least they would have if they were covered at the time.

Memories. That's what all these "dreams" have been trying to tell her! These weren't dreams, these weren't hallucinations she was suffering, but pure and legit memories! She couldn't believe it, nor did she want to believe it, but it was the truth! Through means she couldn't understand yet, one way or another, somehow the memories of hers and all of her friends had come to be erased! And Naegi was the only one who knew it at this point!

Granted, she didn't have all her memories yet. What's more, she didn't even know who she was speaking to, or what was going on at the moment, seeing how all her memories had yet to return at the steady rate they did. But that didn't matter anymore. All that mattered from this point forward was that her memories were one-hundred percent real, and that someone else had known about Naegi's returning memories all along.

There was still just one issue Naegi was currently faced with, which she realized after a few seconds of thought.

"You're...the puppet master, aren't you?" She assumed with a firm tone.

"Upupupu! Kyeheheheh!" Their captor chuckled loudly. "Ding ding ding! Kudos to the gal that finally gets it! What else?"

"What...else?"

"What else do you know?" They specified. "Do you know why you're here, as in this Mutual Killing, not with me at the moment?"

Naegi was a bit hesitant to respond. She didn't want to truly give her the answer, but she felt like the only thing keeping her alive at this point was playing along with this creep's sick twisted game. "N-Not really. My memories are only returning at a steady rate, not all at once." She revealed. Every moment of silence coming from the captor's lips sent Naegi closer to the edge of worry.

"Hmm...you don't say?...Meh, that's a shame." They shrugged. "I was gonna have a lot more fun and all, maybe play with your insides a little bit and move around some organs, but this puts a hamper on things." Now Naegi was terrified again. The way they spoke about it, it was said with a strange mix of calmness, as if they were perfectly fine with saying all of this, and creepiness in that they had no problem revealing what they planned on doing to Naegi if they could. "Oh well, time for plan B!"

"P-Plan B?" Naegi shook a little as she asked.

"Yesiree! Plan B! Operation: Convert Naegi into Despair!" They declared. Something was immediately wrong about this. The way they spoke about despair, going into it and everything, it brought an unsettling familiarity to Naegi that she didn't want to think about. It brought her slowly closer to the edge of what she knew, but she refused to push herself any farther on her own. "Are you ready?"

Naegi gulped silently. Who knew what form of torture they planned to induce within Naegi?!

"Want to join Despair?"

"..."

"..."

"...What?" Naegi was taken aback a little. She was still waiting for whatever metallic instrument of torture would strike her flesh, but nothing came, except for said question.

"I said do you want to join despair, ya goof." They repeated in a perky tone, playfully tapping on Naegi's head with their knuckles.

"...Noooooo...?" Naegi replied questionably. She didn't know what to expect after replying in such a way.

"Pleeeeeease?" The voice begged in a whine.

"No." Naegi couldn't help but wonder if she was speaking to a small child. She knew she didn't of course, seeing how she felt her head pulled into the captor's chest a moment ago, but their methods of "torture" were beyond what Naegi had expected.

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"How about pretty, pretty, please?"

"No!"

"Pretty, pretty, CHERRy-ON-TOP, please?"

This was turning into an annoyance than it was a scare.

"Still no-..." Another thought suddenly caught Naegi's mind. "Wait, why do you want me to join Despair, and for that matter, what are you talking about?" Her captor grinned. This is what she wanted Naegi to realize after so long.

"Now we're getting to the real question." They stated. "Despair, despair, despair...What on Earth could it possibly mean?" They tapped their chin playfully. "Is it something tasty or that smells good? A type of fad or group of people? Well, no, no, no and...actually, yes. It's one of my most favorite words in existence, and right now, it runs the world!"

"R-Runs the...?" There was a way the person phrased that which threw Naegi off in an uneasy gesture. "W-What are you talking about?" Sighing silently to themselves, her captor grinned slyly as they leaned in closer to Naegi's face.

"Instead of telling you and spoiling the fun, why don't you just hurry up and join us already?" They suggested, leaning in closer.

"What are y- Nggh!" There was a full, pure, moment of deja vue for Makoto Naegi. With a simple flick of the captor's mouth, pulling Naegi's face closer to them, she felt the captor's tongue press against the outside of her lip, pushing it's way past her to enter Naegi's mouth.

An overwhelming sense of fear came back to her as she remembered everything that Isshiki did, to his sexual harassment to his forced-kissing of Naegi. Part of her began to wonder if this very same captor WAS isshiki himself, which she knew couldn't be the case. Aside from the fact the voice was way off for someone like him, being one of the most disgusting aspects that she wished she COULD forget, she didn't feel his long tongue practically stretching to the back of her own throat.

Naturally this wasn't any better of an alternative, mind you, but at least, unlike Isshiki, this person apparently pulled back after a few seconds as opposed to suffocating her with her face. Like before, from Naegi's memories, she coughed for a brief while after this, but it wasn't as suffocating as before, henceforth it only lasted about a second or two.

"Hack-ouggh!" Naegi coughed loudly.

"Now, as I said before," her captor said with wicked glee, "join Ultimate Despair, and everything will be okay." The captor grinned to themselves.

Obviously, Naegi had no idea who she was dealing with, and her captor, who was in all reality, Junko Enoshima, planned on keeping it this way. How could she expect Junko of all people to actually know it was her anyway? Even if her memories returned to a degree where she knew who put them all through this, and the one responsible for setting up this Mutual Killing game, nobody would expect Junko to still be the mastermind behind all of this, especially since she was "punished" early on at the start of this game for "breaking the rules", and executed by the headmaster.

Oh the joy Enoshima took from watching her own sister die at that moment, or at least experience a state near it. She refused to let such a feeling go to waste, but she also refused to let something she found interesting, someone like Naegi in this case, to get away from her grasp. At this time, the only thing she needed now was to hear those magical words that would fill her with an unbridled ecstasy.

"I told you no!" Naegi yelled again.

"..." Those were not the words Junko wanted to hear. The bitter expression on her face was all there to confirm that. "What...did you say?" She spoke in an irritant tone.

"I said no!" Naegi spoke loud and clear once more. "I don't know what your obsession with Despair is, and to be honest, I have no interest in any group of yours or the things you do. All I want at this moment is to get out of here with all my friends, and go home!"

"..."

*_Whap!*_

"Ack-!" Naegi yelped, tearing up slightly as she felt a firm strike across the face.

Once again, she found herself questioning if she was dealing with Isshiki Madarai again. This situation was way too similar to that experience, almost scaring her just from the memory alone. Fortunately, this time around, the slap she felt wasn't as painful to bear as the previous one she remembers experiencing, but it still stung quite a bit. Add that up with the fever that was still running through her system, and her whole head felt like it was rumbling.

"You know, you're really boring Naegi." Her captor complained. Naegi could hear what sounded like the sound of small wheels followed by the repeated clicking sounds from a computer. By her guess, her captor was sitting on a rolling computer chair, the really fancy kinds at that. "Once again, things just keep going the way I expected them to, and it made things even more boring." Without Naegi's knowledge, she grinned back to the captured girl. "Upupupu, but not to worry! That's what I love about you soooooooooo mush!" She lisped with sparkly eyes.

"You make things sooooooo easy fow me as of wate, and dat's why I'm not gonna kill you." She declared. Naegi couldn't tell if she should feel relief at that statement or not. Knowing her past self, she was sure there was a time she would've more than enjoyed to hear such a statement about herself being made, but as of this point, she couldn't tell how to feel. All she wanted was to get out. "All the trials, all the despair you brought for me, it's just sooooo adowable seeing you pway out d'ere wit evewybody, and having a good time wit evewyone!"

"Having a good time?" Naegi's brow tightened a little in anger, as much as she could muster without having the heated-fever reminding her of her current state. "You're out there forcing us to kill each other, and you call it fun?!"

"Ooohh, don't be a party-poo-poo," Junko gushed, "I'm not **forcing** you guys to kill anyone, I'm just..._nudging_, you a bit. Just like now with my current partner." She stated, looking back at the monitors which worked the cameras. The last word she spoke was unsettling to Naegi for reasons she couldn't explain.

"Pa...Partner?" She questioned. "What partner?"

"Ooooooh, that's right!" Junko chirped again. "You don't knoooow, you don't knoooow!" She teased.

"Know what?!" Naegi yelled angrily. She was angry, and she was confused. More importantly though, she felt herself panting a little as she breathed deeply. All this stress was making things worse for her fever.

"Oooooh, I don't wanna ruin the fun, so I'll just say this." She grinned mischievously as she stared back at the monitor. "In the next six hours, they'll end up having to kill Ikusaba, and then we'll have ourselves another fun-filled Class Trial!" She announced.

There was a heavy atmosphere crushing the already-exhausted Naegi. Throughout all the stress she's experienced up to this point, she hadn't realized all her stress was building up her fever over time, making it worse for her current condition. It started out slowly, but as she soon realized, the stress had a delayed reaction where it would affect her fever much later after experiencing the stressfulness of whatever was going on. Because of this, she could now virtually feel the fever itself taking a toll on her, her whole face being flushed red as she breathed heavily.

And this was before the latest comment Junko just made. Now, she felt like the air itself was thickening as she breathed heavily for air. Did she just hear Junko, the person she had yet to discover the identity of, right? Was Ikusaba going to die in the next six hours for whatever reason? And what about what she just announced before that about a partner? Was Ikusaba her partner? Were the two working together all this time? What was going on?!

She kept asking herself over again and again and again! She refused to believe it, even if Junko ended up bringing her any truth that she wanted to hear. Ikusaba was her friend! That was the honest and only truth Naegi had to know at this point!...And yet, some part of her found herself being somewhat concerned with her current reality. Something on the back of Naegi's mind egging at her, whether through a conscious or subconscious state.

The question was, what? Actually, with a little bit of thought, that brought another question to her mind.

"What does...huff..." Naegi paused briefly to take in a deep breath. The fever was taking a toll on her, and she needed to keep aware of that at all times. "What...does Ikusaba...have to do with this?" Junko grinned back at her, taking the moment to slide her chair back to where Naegi was.

"Dawwww, you still don't know and your head is all flushed. How sweeeeet." She chirped, patting Naegi's head. "You know, I will admit for everything I could get to work my way, you're the only thing that's been a delay on my plans."

"De...lay?" She still huffed with every breath, but she managed to get her breathing at a steady and constant rate by this point.

"Yup!" She chirped again, continuing to pat Naegi's head like a pet. "No matter how much I tend to plan things, you were one factor that kept making this just so much harder and harder for me. But that's okay, because I find you adowable, and at the same time, you're making things much easier for me, so I forgive you!" She cheered, rolling back to her monitors.

"What are you talking about?" Naegi was getting frustrated at the fact none of her questions had been answered, and the fact she COULDN'T let herself be frustrated at the same time, what with her fever and whatnot growing with each outburst.

"Before that, let me ask you something." Junko slouched in her chair as she leaned her hand under her chin. "What do you and the rest of the people all have in common?"

"Have in...common?" Naegi tried to think for a minute.

What did they have in common? They all had supposed "talents" which made them Ultimates, even Naegi's proclaimed title, but that was too easy for an answer. They were all, supposedly, students of her school, but that didn't explain much since she still had yet to understand what happened to everyone else. And they all had their memories erased at one point or another, so that definitely wasn't the case easier. Once again, too easy, and Naegi didn't have the means to explain what caused them to lose their memories in the first place.

That was when another thought crossed her mind.

"W-Well...they're all friends of mine, aren't they?" Naegi guessed.

"Woohoo!" Junko cheered excitedly. "Question one has been answered! Question two! Why am I putting you all through this?" Naegi gritted her teeth a little at the perplexing question.

"I... I don't know..." She muttered nervously. She had no idea what would happen if she failed to answer correctly, much less became incapable of answering at all.

"Mmh I guess I can't hold you against that one," Junko shrugged, "honestly, I'd be surprised if you did know for that matter. So let's skip to question 3-!"

"No more ques...huff...questions!" Naegi yelled. Once again, she felt her chest tightening as the fever overtook her briefly, forcing her to drag in and out a breath. "It's my turn to ask some...something!" She stated.

Despite the protest she was just receiving, Junko couldn't help but grin. She could fondly remember the ones tense girl that used to resemble the same one before her, one that would cry just from the situation that she was recently placed under. No matter who did or didn't notice the change themselves, Junko could easily tell Naegi had grown stronger. It was that ever-sickening hope deep within her heart, or wherever Junko planned on ripping it out of, that kept her from giving into despair and all it's glory.

At the same time, it was the same thing that brought immeasurable pain and anger to Junko herself. Naegi's hope was far beyond anything she'd experienced in the past. In the Past, she could easily manipulate someone with a single kiss, man or woman, and force them to do her bidding no matter how grotesque or complicated it became. Perhaps it had to go along with her title as the "Ultimate Super Model", but that was just a gimmick that she posed upon herself by now. At this point, she was Ultimate Despair, and nothing more!

But what did this make Naegi? Not once in Junko's life had she met someone so resilient to her charms and "personality". No matter what order of government, no matter how high in the world you were, Junko could easily bend one's will down all the way to the bottom of a cliff. Perhaps it was something that could drop you to the bottom of any bottomless pit, should Junko ever will it. So why didn't her "charms" work on Naegi?

Naegi was average. Naegi was simple. Naegi was the once sniveling girl Junko once met crying out in the hallways, one who claimed to have given up all hope for the world and thought her future was hopeless. Yet, no matter how hard Junko tried to push her at this moment, Naegi refused to budge. She refused to give up, she refused to see the end of hope in all things, and she never fell into despair like so many easy victims had in Junko's past.

It both surprised and infuriated the pink-haired girl! Why was she so resilient to Junko's charm?! Did she have some hidden talent that really separated her from the rest? Did she have some immunity to despair? Did she, perhaps, not understand how to fall into despair, or have a grasp on the very idea of how to fall under despair?! It confused Junko to no end, and only rose the anger within her mind!

And yet, part of her liked it. It was a challenge to her, and one that Junko would enjoy breaking, no matter how long or hard it was.

"Soooooo? What do you want to know?" Junko tapped her chin curiously.

"Why are you dong this to us?!" Naegi demanded to know. "We haven't done anything to you, and we don't even know who you are! So why did you _pick _us for all of this?!" Junko grinned slyly. Naegi was very direct, and that was good. It showed just how far her courage and strength had risen.

"Well, to answer all of those questions at once...nothing." Junko replied simply, rolling the chair so it was behind Naegi. Naegi jumped as she suddenly felt Junko squeeze her hands around her neck. It wasn't in a life-threatening case or anything, just tight enough to grip it and pull her back against the chair.

"You haven't done a single thing to me, or to anyone I know. That's what despair is all about!"

At the time, Junko took the liberty of providing a small "reward" to Naegi. With a delicate flick of her fingers, she untied the blindfold against Naegi's eyes. Being caught off guard by such a gesture, Naegi's eyes were immediately blinded by the bright lights reflecting off the monitors. It was to be expected from a girl such as her, seeing how she had her eyes shut for at least two days by this point. With the rest of the room being pitch black, having the only source of light directed right in front of you was the most obvious result to occur.

And that wasn't even half of what Junko wanted.

Before Naegi could make note of her surroundings further, she suddenly let out another muffled yelp as Junko tied the cloth tightly against her mouth, muffling any words she could utter as they practically crushed her cheeks together. This was actually a smart move for Junko's case. With the ropes being the only thing constricting Naegi's movement at this time, it would've been more than a simple chore for her to just yank the knots loose with her bare teeth.

Perhaps there was one point in her life where she would've been to terrified to think of such a plan, but Junko was smart enough to prevent taking chances.

"Mmmhhh!" Naegi let out a muffle shout, wincing slightly in pain from how tightly Junko tied the cloth against her face.

Staring at the bindings against her arms, she tried using all her power to break free of the bonds. Unfortunately, as planned, there would be no way for her to unbind her arms from chair's arms, especially seeing how the ropes tied from the base of her elbows, wrapping up all the way to her wrists. That didn't break the girl's will though, continuing to groan and grumble with each pull she used to break herself free.

"If I had a reason, my plans would be too simple." Junko continued, rolling back in front of her.

It didn't surprise her that her captor was now wearing a creepy mask in front of them, donning a white business-like suit as she sat in front of Naegi. Naegi was actually taken back a little by this sudden appearance, having believed her captor was a girl after feeling her face squeezed against their chest. What Junko couldn't mask, was the feminine voice though. That kept Naegi's mind thinking that it was a female.

"If I had a reason, you could find a way to counter any plans or idea I had against you or your friends." Junko took the liberty to roll back to the monitor, the back of her chair turned away from the struggling Naegi. "If I had a reason, you could try to understand me, and try to persuade me to stop my evil plans, make some cheesy crap where we end up being best of friends, live happily ever after in an enchanted castle, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff." It couldn't be shown through the mask itself, but like the mask displayed on itself, Junko grew a teethy grin as she stared back at the monitors.

"That's why, no matter what I do, you will never be ready enough to stop it. No matter what I do, I can easily manipulate you and all your fucking, lame-ass, friends to do whatever I please. No matter what I do, I can watch you scurry around back and forth like the rats you are, using your own morals and ideals to go about and brutally murder one another for the entire world to see." She grinned, leaning closer to the monitor with excitement.

"Mmhhhhh!" Naegi groaned. She had to limit how far she struggled- it wouldn't do any good for her if she ended up making herself too sick to fight back. This fever was rather uncommon compared to any past fevers she could remember, not counting the ones of her recent two-year-past she might've had.

"And because of that, I can perfectly predict everything that will happen."

Junko didn't have a care in the world. Even if Naegi somehow managed to break herself free, she could just kill her. Better yet, it would be off screen, so she could just post some sort of fake footage of some "accident" depicting Naegi's death. It was child's play for someone like her. That's why, she ignored Naegi, and only focused on the ongoing countdown displayed on the monitors.

While it couldn't be seen from this side of things, the monitor had turned off on all the other monitors throughout the school, at least that showed off Naegi in her periled-state. The only thing presented on the monitors that the students could see, was the ongoing countdown, that ticked away the seconds towards Ikusaba's or Naegi's eventual death. She knew that the students were fretting about their current predicament. Even though it stated it in the rules, there would indeed be a class trial by the time this countdown was over, but it would definitely never be for Ikusaba. She couldn't relish the despair as much if she had a trial for her "loveable" sister anymore.

It was for this reason, Junko lewdly rubbed her hand between her legs slowly. She got off from things like this, seeing everyone despair before her and seeing her plans going off to perfection. With both sides, this side consisting of Naegi herself, and the other side consisting of the 5 remaining students, she knew they were both despairing, and loved it, now matter how little it seemed.

Both sides knew that within 6 hours, specifically five hours, twelve minutes, and forty-two seconds at this point, there would be a class trial on their hands. The other side didn't trust Junko's word for it- they knew a class trial would occur if they killed Ikusaba. Technically speaking, they were right! It just wouldn't consist of Ikusaba like they all thought it would. It would just depend on whether or not Naegi would be around to participate in the "_Special Trial_"

**"And within the next six hours Kirigiri will have finally killed Ikusaba..."**

**...**

**...**

**...**

A/N: Dun dun duuuuun *dramatic reverrrrrb*! Well wellie-wellie-oh-well! Betcha never thought Junko would meet Naegi face to face before the grand finale, eh :P? Technically speaking, they actually did! Both in here, and in the game, before the final trial (and obviously not counting the bit where they've met in the past either XP!), I mean as in in her masked-appearance at the times. Fact is, she actually "met" Naegi once before meeting Naegi in his bedroom, the first being when she snuck up and struck Naegi in the secret room Kirigiri found, but let's stick to the actual notes XP

Yes, indeed, I've finally "Confirmed" the puppet master was Junko! *gaaaaaaasp* I BET NONE OF YOU EVER- ok seriously, i made it more than obvious half the time it was "Junko"- what a shock XP If you didn't read the past chp bonus of "Chibi Naegi" (SHAME ON YOU!), then the fact I did actually confirm it before after Naegi's death, albeit somewhat quietly, did. I don't know why, but for some reason despite announcing it, i always just felt compelled to keep the puppet master's identity "hidden" by this point, which is why i almost always referred to any of Ikusaba's "chats", at least the person she was referring to, as her "partner" half the time, and her "sister". Personally, after all of this, it bothered me, but I don't know why XP

Anyway, another graaaand chp, and a graaaand apology, for, once again, delays X/ At least I'm keeping a 1-a-week thing on, right : /? I mean honestly, look at someone like Klonoadreams'- she posts half of what I write half the time and more often than not, it takes like 3-4x longer : / same as everyone else I know X/ I'm sorry, and I hope to get back to my usual posting limit X/ on the bright side- I finally am free for the rest of the semester, so yippee ^^ No more (hopefully) delay excuses for the next month or so ^^

Also, a big SHOUTOUT/THANKS to **EXPLOSIVEKINGDOM**, seeing how he's the only guy to actually fulfill my birthday-request/wish by making a birthday-related fanfic for me ^^ If anyone else did, I need you to notify me since I have little-to-no idea if you actually did XP as the guy who followed all the rules though (and made it quite enjoyable to me despite it's short-size ^^), he wins the contest ^^! The secret to immortality, as promised, is-

*DATA CORRUPTION*

*DATA CORRUPTION*

See? Just like I promised ^^ Just make sure you mix the stuff right or it'll cause an eternity of agonizing pain- my great uncle learned that the hard way X/… Anyway, as for the other reward, like I promised, the next bonus episode is up for grabs, and anything of explosive's choice ^^ Like before, it can be of ANYTHING, and I'd like to see something as creative as your last requested piece, if you can ^^ I won't mind the size anymore, I need some more bonus stuff to get me writing again :P!

So without further ado, I hope you enjoyed the fanfic ^^ leave your thoughts or a like if you did, and hope I get back to a close-to-daily posting relatively soon XP


	38. Bonus Episode 5: Days of their lives

A/N: Omg..OMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGG! LONGEST! FREAKING! UDPATE! PIZZA- I mean EVER! POSTED!

A bonus episode as requested by Chaosrin ^^ I apologize for the delay- I can only assume this is explosivekingdom's fault X/ His fault out of the way, enjoy ^^

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The Future Foundation.

When it came to the end of the world, they were the ones who rose from the ashes. While the rest of the world gave in to despair, they were reluctant enough to pick it off from the ground, and begin rebuilding it. They were proof one could survive the despair.

If they weren't, then neither were the survivors of the Mutual Killing game that took place almost 1 year ago. A game that pitted 15 students in a mad game designed to sew despair into the world, where they had to kill one another to escape the twisted school. In a system called "Graduation", the students had to pull off the perfect murder and get away with it in a class trial.

By succeeding, the rest of the classmates would be thoroughly executed and killed, while the survivor ran free. If they failed, they would be "Punished", and pushed through an execution ironically related to their special talent. It was truly a cruel and twisted game. And that wasn't even the worst of it.

If the killer had succeeded, it wasn't just a factor of killing the remaining students in their stead. They would have escaped, right outside into a world filled with even more despair, misery, and killing. A world where they were just as likely to get killed themselves. It was truly a despicable and unholy mind that created this game.

It was thanks to the Future Foundation that the survivors of the Mutual Killing game found refuge. After thwarting the Headmaster's own scheme, and sentencing them to their own execution, the survivors were released from their school-like prison. On the outside, they found not just hope and despair, but the Future Foundation waiting for them.

With their assistance, they were taken to a refuge where the Foundation was based, a place where they could finally be free of the madness that engulfed the rest of the world. That didn't mean they were scot free, however.

Granted, it was their own choice to do so. They weren't forced by the Foundation to join their cause and work for them. If they had chosen it, they would have been allowed to simply live out their lives as normal as possible among the facility, but no. With their own approval, they found themselves once more at work, now working to better the world and pull it from the depths of despair.

Now, they worked tirelessly, with the Foundation. Just after putting their lives on the line, they found themselves once more doing so, to bring Hope and prosperity back into the world. Working with them, they worked to bring life back into terrorized cities, save lives wherever despair had them gripped. Being the survivors of the worst kind of despair, they had the hope needed to resist further despair, never again succumbing to what the rest of the world had lost to.

The most notable of said students was one particular girl, who stood as a grand symbol to all lives throughout the world. Her name, was Naegi Makoto. She stood despair in the face, even when it was wrapped around her throat, and resisted it. Despite not being the strongest, sometimes not even the bravest, she would never relent. She would always stand against those who threw despair at someone else, never backing down even if she was scared.

She became a person who everyone respected, especially those who survived. As long as she lived, everyone would know that hope was also alive. As long as she was around, there would never be a time where someone said despair was stronger than hope. And she, herself, would survive for as long as possible. If not for herself, she would do it so that no one else would lose hope, so she could do what she could to prevent others from ever falling into the depths of despair, ever again.

And now, she would start off her day, much like any other. In fact, the day was about to consist of the usual jobs and shenanigans which followed Naegi herself, and those closest to her.

Literally speaking.

_**...**_

...

...

*****_**Naegi's Day**_*****

_***Beep-Beep-Beep!***_

_***Beep-Beep-Beep!***_

"Ugghhhh..." Naegi groaned as her alarm clock went off. She didn't necessarily mind it so much, it was the obnoxious ringing sound it made to wake her up that really got to her on a daily basis. 7:00 A.M.- the same time it would ring on a constant basis. It would never turn off no matter how much she wish it would, or at least change the ring tone, for an entire five minutes, unless she turned it off herself.

Reaching for it, she was greeted by the next thing her day would consist off, at least depending on which side they slept on for that night.

"Nghhoooooo..." Kirigiri groaned, pulling Naegi's face tightly against her chest in a hug.

"Ack-!" Naegi yelped. No matter how many times she went through this, she would never get used to the way they would greet her each morning. Here with a small smile on her lips, still looking as if asleep, Kirigiri turned to her side, dragging Naegi in the process, as she leaned on the side of her bed.

At least Naegi didn't have to deal with her shoving her face into her chest in the nude- it took forever to convince both Ikusaba and Kirigiri to at least wear their undergarments during the night.

"Five more minnnishhhhh..." She slurred with a yawn. Naegi rolled her eyes mentally as she pried herself from Kirigiri's strong arms.

"C'mon Kirigiri, I have a couple meetings I need to get t-Ahh!" Naegi let out a startled yelp again, this time completely awakening her from her slumber-like state. She didn't expect Ikusaba's strong arms wrapping around her, kneeling on the bed right behind the young girl.

"Ohhhhh meeting smheetings," Ikusaba pouted, "just skip a day and have some fun with us!" Naegi shuddered a little. There was something about the way these two kept constantly speaking about "having fun" that kept getting to her. That, added with the fact they were in the bedroom at the time, which is one of the few areas where they asked to have _fun_, Naegi couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

"I mean it, I have a lot of meetings to attend today, so let me get ready." Naegi practically begged. She spoke with a mixed irritated and used-to-it kind of tone. Being nearly a year since the events that befell Hope's Peak, and living with these two girls herself, she was used to it enough to not be surprised by what they did, but still found it just as annoying from time to time.

"Well at least let me help you get washed up and ready for the day..."Ikusaba requested with a sly grin. Worse yet, that very same comment would often cause the start of an "important" argument between the two girls.

"Hey, it's my turn to shower with her, Iku!" Kirigiri grumbled, pulling Naegi closer to her. Naegi blinked herself awake, mentally sighing as she knew how this would go.

"You had her last night, Miss Body-odor!" Ikusaba grumbled, pulling Naegi back to herself again. "It's my turn for the morning!"

"Hey, unlike you, I work for my reward, and the Body-odor was from the disgusting food you made last night, not me!" Kirigiri growled back. You could practically see the fire burning from their eyes and mouth. Any normal person would be instantly destroyed if they tried to get between them and their obsession for Naegi.

"My food wouldn't be disgusting if you gave me the correct ingredients last night, dumbass!"

"Well maybe if you weren't being a drunken tramp last night, you would've wrote down the correct ingredients!"

"Then why couldn't you-!"

Naegi sighed to herself as she slid out of Iksuaba's arms carefully. If she maneuvered herself just right, she could get out of her grip in the middle of their argument with one another without either girl realizing it for the next several minutes. This would be just the amount of time she needed in order to walk her way over to the bathroom without either of the two noticing, and spend the next several minutes showering and getting ready for the day. Chances are, like hundreds of other times, she would hear the moaning and crying of the two Naegi-obsessed girls from the other side of the door, realizing by this point that Naegi was already in the bathroom.

It had been a quirky year of living together with the two girls, and she didn't really know how to describe their relationship. The two girls loved Naegi, and Naegi loved them back. However, there were two differences:

1, Naegi loved them as friends, as she did with all her other friends, while they had a more... questionable approach about "loving" her. Being the kind-hearted person she was though, she didn't want to break their spirits any more, or at least run the risk of doing it.

The 2nd thing that made it a little strange was that their love for her was _unique_, in that they didn't love any other girl except for Naegi. Given the circumstances there would be a certain "name" for girls like Ikusaba and Kirigiri, but their love for Naegi was just strictly that- for Naegi. There were often times with people with similar interests as theirs would often ask the girls out themselves from time to time around the facility, but as they kept stating, which confused those that asked them, they simply replied saying "they weren't lesbians".

For some people, such a strange love-factor may seem a bit quirky at times, but they simply ignored these onlookers. All they cared about was their care for Naegi, and nothing more. Which is why they were moaning outside the bathroom door like a pair of moaning cats, after scratching and roughhousing with each other for the last twelve minutes debating on who would get to wash up with Naegi.

Naegi was a little bit aware of their rivalry with one another by this point, but she had to admit it has gotten better during the last year with one another...she thinks. Most of the time they argued, they now went on without actually hitting one another back and forth, or at least not within Naegi's few. It was mostly playful banter between one another these days, which was the way Naegi liked it. The last thing she wanted was to be part of some debate that explained why they kept roughhousing with one another constantly.

As such, it was practically a daily part of her routine where she would hear the two bicker and argue about who would do stuff with her and when. She didn't mind spending time with the both of them, and as long as they both could, they didn't argue either, but the schedules they all had made it hard for them to hang out on a day-to-day basis without being preoccupied with something.

With Naegi's roles being the more prominent ones, she was constantly busy from morning to night, often at times putting her life on the line for dangerous missions. When it came to Kirigiri's, her role came to investigating strange occurrences and happenings all around the Headquarters, and sometimes off the premises too.

And Ikusaba's...hers were more of a random schedule at times. When it came to her duties, not only was she in charge of managing and ensuring nobody influenced by despair, someone with only her caliber (not talking rifles of course) could manage, being the only one who had direct contact with such despair. She was the only one who could point out a despair-like character out from a crowd of a hundred people, and that made her a valuable asset to the facility.

Unfortunately, she felt more like a guinea pig at times. When it came to her "duties", much of it just consisted of having deep therapy sessions with numerous psychologists. These psychologists were trying to study the effects of Ikusaba's despair in order to better understand what they were dealing with, as well as try to find a way in which they too could find the true members of despair like Iksuaba could. Sadly for them, they still had little-to-no understanding of how to depict a member of despair out from a crowd.

This made Ikusaba invaluable.

Sadly, the feeling was less than mutual. To her, Ikusaba felt like a constant guinea pig when in their rooms, going over repeatedly about constant events in her life and how she came to be. Considering they don't even trust her enough to be a full-fledged member of the Future Foundation, Ikusaba felt a strange uselessness about herself when compared to the other members, especially Kirigiri from time to time.

It took Naegi's kindheartedness and sweetness to convince her that she was a valuable member to them, even if the Future Foundation wouldn't admit it. Her acceptance and care was all she needed, among other things of course. This was the only reason she kept pressing on and fulfilled her duties as told. She would do anything they asked as long as it made Naegi herself happy.

With the showering and dressing done, Naegi smiled walking out the door, seeing how the other two had finally calmed down and waited patiently for her to finish, and already dressed and cleaned up for the day too. There were actually two functioning bathrooms within the household, but that didn't keep the other two girls from any possible opportunity to "bond" with Naegi. They just preferred spending any possible time with the girl in person.

To be fair, they couldn't be completely blamed for their obsession-like motivation to bond with her. Naegi knew this quite well, as she helped prepare breakfast, pancakes for today, with the other two. With all their schedules being what they were, this was practically one of the only parts of the day where the trio had any time to socialize and bond with one another. Some work days would keep the three all busy for the entire day. Some nights, it would even go on for several days before seeing each other! Given the circumstances, it was no surprise they wanted to use any opportunity to bond with their precious Naegi.

And honestly, Naegi actually didn't mind it all too much. As stated earlier, she still loved the two back, perhaps a little more than the rest of her friends but only due to their returned-infatuation for her, but she still loved them as friends like all the others.

"So what's on today's agenda?" Kirigiri asked curiously, still working on the pancakes she was cooking for herself. Naturally it was only fitting for her to cook some for Naegi first.

"Wesgh g'osh, 'ang 'oim..." Naegi paused to swallow the current serving in her mouth before talking. "Huff, I said I have a couple meetings to attend."

"Bah," Ikusaba let out a sigh-like yawn as she gulped down the juice, "what's the next meeting consist of? Hopefully it won't be any of those boring "guideline ones" they make you sit several hours through, again..." Ikusaba muttered with the roll of her eyes.

"Nah, none of that stuff." Naegi replied. "We're actually considering expanding the foundation farther out." She said with a smile. "We just received word awhile ago of a couple different cities worldwide that have survived the Despair incident."

"You mean like Towa city?" Kirigiri asked curiously. "I overheard some talk from some of the staff. Apparently Towa Cities one of the few places that managed to even purify the air."

"Awwwwwww!" Ikusaba grumbled, puffing her cheeks out. "I never get told anything around here! They don't tell me things cause I'm "not an official member" or some bullshit."

"Well you can't entirely blame them, Ikusaba," Kirigiri commented, "I mean you were a former member of Ultimate Despair."

"Yeah, emphasis on _**former**_." Ikusaba groaned, lowering her head on the table. "I'm not saying I should be forgiven for the past, but I should at least be informed enough about these things. I could help so much more if they let me in on the details..."

Naegi didn't like seeing Ikusaba frowning like this. One of the hardest things it came to was trying to get the Future Foundation to trust Ikusaba. Everything that happened was broadcasted worldwide, and the Future Foundation was more than keen on watching the program Junko displayed to everyone. Obviously, they were let in on all the details, including any of the details regarding Ikusaba's involvement with the Despair-inducing Incident.

It wasn't even enough for them that Ikusaba helped the others escape! Upon meeting with the Foundation alone, just after escaping Hope's Peak, they were ready to shoot her on sight! There was no going how well it would go between the "Ultimate Soldier" versus 10 highly trained and armed Foundation members, but thanks to Naegi's intervention, she managed to prevent any bloodbath.

With her being the "Ultimate Hope" for the world, it was no surprise that they listened to her. The Foundation desperately needed the Ultimate Hope as a symbol for their foundation. Without Naegi, they couldn't show the rest of the world that they were the "Hope for Humanity", and without Naegi, they had no claim whatsoever that they were what was best at the time. As long as Naegi was with them, they could maintain a title appropriately.

That's why, almost no one ever refused anything Naegi requested, at least not to this degree.

"Well if you want, I could tell you about some of the stuff we talk about." Naegi suggested with a smile. Ikusaba grinned briefly at this, but even coming from Naegi's generous sweet self, it wasn't, shockingly, enough to appease her.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Ikusaba mumbled with a sigh. "Last I want is for them to get mad at you because of some stupid rule or something that you didn't know."

*_bip-bip-bip-bip-bi*_

"Ugghhhh!" Ikusaba groaned irritantly as she glared down at the small device on her chest.

The one and absolute thing she hated most of all, was the condition that explained why she was allowed to "join", to some manner of speaking, the Foundation in the first place. For her to be trusted within the Future Foundation, they absolutely required that they had some form of contingency to keep her in check. It wasn't anything that would force her to do their bidding or anything, just something to make sure they didn't have to worry about her slipping into despair.

It was some form of "shock collar", to be accurate, except this one was more of a sphere-like device that was grafted onto her chest. It wasn't entirely a painful process or anything, in fact it was just like pressing a button to her chest, and only a slight pinch.

The device was meant to monitor her stress and emotional levels on a constant basis, never once turning off since she had it installed onto herself. If the stress levels read that it was growing to an unstable condition, it would let out a small repeated beeping noise. It was meant as a sort of "warning alarm", telling her to watch her recent stress. From here, she could take care of her own stress, and work on several different things to bring her own stress levels back down.

If things really got bad, an alarm-like warning would be sent directly to the Foundation itself via radio signals. These would be able to trace all the way back to the heads of the Foundation, who would register an immediate "Emergency Counseling Session" with the distraught girl asap.

Then there was a third and final setting, should things deeply become out of control for the distraught girl. Under circumstances where an extreme case became apparent, the warning would go off loudly, alerting anyone within several yards of Ikusaba about her condition. Under those cases, under protective and non-lethal means of course, the chest piece would deliver a moderate electric shock throughout her body. While this might seem extreme to some degree, it was the only means of not only snapping Ikusaba out of her condition at any point, but to also paralyze her to a small degree, where she wouldn't pose a danger to those subduing her.

This actually proved to be a burden at times for the young girl, as more than half the time, it would read her regular stress levels as too dangerous- this is part of the reason the foundation had such a hard time determining Despair-induced people from regularly-stressed people. Perhaps it's for such a reason that made Ikusaba an invaluable indirect-member of the Foundation. No matter how much they refused to allow her, the fact was they needed her.

And nothing would change that.

"Speaking of schedules, what are you two up to today?" Naegi asked in return.

"Another "joyous" therapy session like every other day..." Ikusaba groaned.

Now Naegi could see what the issue was. As another part of the agreement for allowing Ikusaba refuge within the Foundation, it was mandatory that she saw someone for a therapy session every other day, no exceptions, for at least four hours a day.

On some bright side of things, these were the only things she found herself preoccupied with, at least in the idea that it slowed down the feeling of time from sheer boredom. Other words, it was boring as hell, but it was the only thing she had to do that was mandatory, and only once every two days.

The down side of things, were just that- IT WAS BORING! These weren't your typical "1-therapist-only" sessions; these sessions consisted of seeing different therapists for multiple reasons, some of which extended the time of their own therapy sessions for reasons she, nor the others, could understand. And they would always preform bizarre, sometimes _questionable_, relaxation-sessions, some of which felt just wrong to think and see.

"Are they really that bad?" Naegi wondered.

"Even I wouldn't trade my job for her therapy sessions," Kirigiri stated, "and I work over 36 hours on some days."

"Ouch."

"As for me, I'm needed down at Sector-7." Kirigiri added. Naegi looked at her with a mix of concern and surprise.

"Sector-7?"

*_bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-*_

"Ghhhhhhh!" Ikusaba grumbled, looking down at her chest. Yup, just about any amount of stress could set it off. Either the people didn't know how to make a device that monitored stress-levels correctly...or Ikusaba was just proving how easy it was to slip back into despair.

Neither of way was the issue though.

Sector-7 was actually only a few sectors away from their current home, with each sector being considered a housing district within the Foundation. From Sectors 1-10, each sector was labeled and housing staff based on their reputation and/or importance to the foundation. With Sector-1 housing minorities and common civilians, all the way to Naegi's sector, which was actually Sector-11; it was a secretive sector within the Foundation which only a few new about.

The true higher ups, as well as Naegi's friends (including the other survivors of the Mutual Killings) were all housed here. Even if the other survivors weren't considered "Ultimate Hope", they had more experience than just about anyone else from the foundation, making them as valuable as Ikusaba was.

In addition to all of this there were also different facilities within each sector that prioritized in one field of work or another. For example, Sector 2, 4, and 6, 8, were in charge of security detail and maintenance, while Sector 3 and 5 were in charge of communications and internet-based operations throughout the facilities. Despite each sector being a different "grade" than the previous, they were all necessary to maintain an order throughout the entire Foundation. Each sector was just as important as the next (though, it could be argued that Sector 11 was most important for specified reasons...).

That's why it surprised Naegi that Kirigiri was investigating said Sector. When it came to Kirigiri's jobs, they revolved around investigating suspicious activity within the Foundation, and sometimes even out of it at different outposts. The kinds of things she would investigate were sometimes disturbing, but the most common things she'd investigate were murders or incidences that couldn't be explained without professional help.

She was the right girl for the job.

What did surprise Naegi was the details behind the sectors. To get to any sector, you had to pass each Sector, with the exception of Sector-11. Sector-11 required a special keycard which was to be used at the transit stations, which traveled from sector to sector. But even then, there were security checkpoints at each sector, and those checkpoints were HEAVILY guarded, naturally with higher security the higher the sectors went.

If something happened to a sector this far up, something big had to have happened.

"Why, did something happen?" Naegi asked slightly worried. Kirigiri gave her a calming smile as she shook her head.

"No, it's not anything too severe. There was just a minor break in at someone's house, probably just some thief or something." She replied. Naegi couldn't' help but to agree with that, not knowing the full details herself. She did know sometimes there were only minor things that Kirigiri had to investigate from time to time like thefts or vandalism, so it wasn't too hard for her to believe.

She just didn't know Kirigiri was lying to keep her from worrying because of how much Naegi trusted her.

"Honestly, it shouldn't take all day if anything." Kirigiri continued. "Hey, maybe after Ikusaba's therapy thing, we could all meet up for lunch! Or at least be here for dinner with the three of us." Like many other things, even having a schedule where they could have dinner each night was a hard thing to come by, but not as hard as having the same days off as each other.

"Ah," Naegi sighed in relief, finishing off her juice, "that would be nice if we all could..." She mumbled to herself as she checked clock above the kitchen stove for a brief moment. "It's about twenty minutes to Nine, so I better take off." She stated, grabbing the dishes.

"I'll clean up the dishes for you, Naegi, you just head on off to work." Kirigiri said, happily taking the dishes Naegi had finished using. Any time where Ikusaba and Kirigiri could do anything to help Naegi, they practically scrambled first to take it. It would be a lie to say there wasn't a "Point system" going on between the two, with Ikusaba being at least three points ahead of Kirigiri as of now.

"Thanks Kirigiri." Naegi thanked as she ran a little to the door.

"Stay safe, Naegi." Ikusaba said happily, waving to the running girl.

"It's just a meeting, Ikusaba, how bad could it be?"

"Oh wait, Naegi!" Kirigiri quickly spoke up, running up to the girl as she was in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" Naegi asked back.

"Just, a sec, you got a little..." Kirigiri licked her thumb lightly, rubbing a noticeable smudge on her face. Naegi blushed a little, feeling like Kirigiri was acting a little "motherly" doing something like this. After rubbing the edges of her mouth for a few seconds, Kirigiri finally finished with a satisfied smile. "Ah, there. Can't be showing up for work when people expect you to be a grand image for them."

"Hehe, t-thanks." Naegi mumbled, scratching the back of her head a little nervous.

"Oh, hold on, there's something else." Naegi raised a brow curiously, noticing the just-as-curious expression on Kirigiri's face.

"Huh? What else is there-"

*_smooch!*_

"A-Ack! Ki-Ki-Kirigiri!" Naegi stammered as a deep-red blush covered her face.

Ikusaba's jaw dropped in disbelief, which was soon replaced with anger, at Kirigiri's recent plan. It didn't surprise Naegi these days whenever one of the girls tried to secretly sneak a kiss in on her in one form or another, but it didn't make her feel any less awkward or embarrassed, no matter how many times she's been through this. At least they had the decency of never doing it in front of anyone else, despite most of the Future Foundation having some idea of their relationship.

It didn't make it any less embarrassing though.

"Oops, my mistake, you're fine." Kirigiri _corrected_, with a tiny blush on her own face. Perhaps Naegi was fine, but that didn't mean all three of them were...

_***BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-!***_

...

...

...

"Thanks to everyone for coming, as always, and if there are no other questions beforehand, let's begin this meeting." The Head-Member, who went by the name of John, stated as he turned to the monitors.

This was what most of Naegi's days consisted of- Meetings. Meetings, meetings, and more meetings. While not all of Naegi's work consisted of just meetings, she was limited to the number of Dangerous-based jobs she could preform as a member of the Future Foundation. It wasn't that they didn't trust her skills and performance or anything, but they couldn't risk anything severe happening to her.

As the "Ultimate Symbol of Hope" within the world, the Future Foundation could never let anything tragic happen to the young girl. Without her, not only did they risk ruining their image as a result of letting the bearer of Hope die while on their watch, but they ran the risk of the world falling into an even more-dreading despair if anyone found out that she died.

Naegi could fend for herself, and she was strong in her own way. And there were a few occurrences where they did need to send her on some dangerous mission or another. During those times, she was protected by highly trained staff, as well as Ikusaba. They could not risk anything happening with Ikusaba, despair-wise, if Naegi was away from her for too long. Just being away from Naegi for a period of time made her despair/stress-levels rise to a degree. They wouldn't risk keeping her separate from Naegi for more than 12 hours at a time.

That's why, most of the meetings that were presented were made to be important matters. These weren't just run-of-the-mill "Oh, what kind of sauce should we have for Taco Tuesday next week", or some boring crap, these were actually just-as-important meetings that determined the fate of the Future Foundation, as well as those of it's civilians which they housed throughout the world.

These usually involved matters like "what to do with different housing Sectors", or "discussing matters of the prisoners or personal throughout the facility", and whatnot. Some of these even involved direct meetings with people who've fallen into Despair.

There was a certain "experiment" being ran, which involved direct interactions between Naegi, and these Despair-induced people. The Future Foundation took interest and curiosity in the fact that Naegi herself, through whatever means possible, managed to pull a member of Ultimate Despair, Mukuro Ikusaba, back into a somewhat-civilized human being. There were still issues about her that questioned the Foundation, but it was the best results they've had with anything. None of their advanced therapy techniques or mental-manipulations could twist these members of Ultimate Despair from their darkened state, yet there was something about Naegi's mere "presence" that made the impossible possible.

Whatever the issue was, Naegi eagerly took part in these sessions, not only to prove herself as someone useful to the Foundation, but wanting to help those who've fallen into Despair by any means necessary. Of course, that didn't prevent the Future Foundation from being protective in these sessions.

During these times, there were a number of factors that were set up to ensure Naegi's safety:

-The civilian Naegi was meeting with must be FULLY restrained, at least to a point where their hands and ankles were chained together at the least.

-There were always at least three fully-armed and highly trained guards with Naegi at these times, with lethal weapons at the ready in case of emergencies.

-Naegi NEVER interacted with any Despair-induced-civilians the Foundation determined to be too unstable, even if they were fully restrained.

-Each Despair Individual had a collar placed around their necks. It was like Ikusaba's in terms of measuring stress-levels, but that was just for researching measures. In this case, these collars were fully armed and ready-to-use in cases of emergencies. In the event that a individual became extremely violent and/or agitated, the collar would deliver an extreme and lethal shock. Unlike Ikusaba's, these were designed to **permanently **subdue the captive, easily to the point of death.

Out of 117 people Naegi has met with, only 6 of these cases ever occurred, and through reasons Naegi never could explain, or see coming. One moment they would be talking calmly, and the next thing she knew, threw explicit and bizarre reasons, they would suddenly snap and attempt to lunge at her. It could be argued that this latent means were a little extreme, but the Foundation could NEVER take chances. Naegi's life and survival was deemed too important to risk through any means.

As such, meetings were a common norm in Naegi's daily life. Throughout all the staff she's met, only six individuals were ever allowed into these meetings, not including the security guards within the room. Because of that, it did make it easier to recognize and memorize everyone's name within the room, even if they did all dress the same (black suits and optional-sunglasses).

Jessica, the highest Member of Sector-10 and the ONLY non-Sector-11 member within the room, always had long red hair with a single ponytail running down her back. She was about 24 at the time, about a good 6-7 years older than Naegi, but still had a tendency of acting childish every now and then. Jess, as she prefers to be named, was in charge of all provisions and resource-control within the Future Foundation. She always sat to the left of Naegi from the roundish rectangular-shaped table.

"Awwww!" Jess groaned, catching everyone's attention.

She appeared to be frowning with an irritated look on her face as she held her tea cup upside down. The scene of it already telling them everything they needed to know, If there was one thing Naegi learned about some of the people she worked with, it's that they all had a taste for the coffee and tea served at these meetings.

Even Naegi couldn't help but admit; the drinks around here tasted great! It was a small compensation considering the long wait everyone went through while going through these meetings. Sometimes they were just reviewing paperwork, discussing meetings, or something else that would naturally bore the life of anyone, regardless of age during these dark times.

"Hey!" She called out to one of the several security members at the door. Just like every other person around here that as part of the staff, they all wore black suits and sunglasses. Least they stood at attention and ready at all times. "Get another order of drinks, will ya?" The middle guard with plain black hair gave a firm nod before walking out the door obediently. Just seeing him doing as he was told already put Jessica back at a smile, turning her attention back to the group.

"You could at least say please or something..." Naegi mumbled.

"Hey, when you have drinks that taste this good, you gotta let them know you NEED a refill, now!" Jessica said with pride.

...Moving on.

Tom, the one in charge of supervising all managements and operations within the first 5 sectors of the Foundation. He always tended to have a spikey-topped hairstyle and seemed to act laidback in the numerous meetings Naegi's been in with him. He was always seated to the right of Naegi, and was the second youngest member of the group, first being Naegi, being a direct 21-years-old.

Korin, one of the more strict of the group, was the blue-haired guy sitting to the right of Tom at those times. Being 27, he was charged with the operations and managements from Sector-6 to Sector 10, like Tom was with the rest. Unlike Tom, he was a little more strict and forceful about the rules. Even more unlike him, Korin had a tendency to act a little brash and aggressive about all situations they dealt with. He was one of those shoot-first-and-forget-questions-completely kind of guys.

Often at times, when it came to arguments, Naegi was often found arguing with Korin's ideals and plans when it came to dealing with people of despair. Some arguments would last for several hours, but no matter how long it did, everyone would eventually side with Naegi's ideals, starting a rivalry-like issue between the two.

The 4th and last female-member of the group meeting was Eniese, one of the oldest of the female members there. Being in charge of all the facilities systems, computer programs, and communications throughout the facility, she had first-hand knowledge of just about everything dealing with computers, and managed any and all programs that were set up throughout the 11 Sectors. Being 30, she was the only one, and that goes through the entire facility, who actually had a liking for the white long hair that she had.

Like Korin, she was a little more mature than Jess, but not unruly and strict about it like Korin was. Again, she was to the right of Korin again.

The last of these people were one of the "Higher-up Heads" head of the group, John. Having a plain pitch-black-colored hair, he managed all the managements. That is to say, his job was to ensure all the other heads, managers, and several dozen other leaders of the facility were doing their job right. at 34, he was the oldest member of the group, and one of the few who believed in Naegi's ideal right off the bat.

With this, there were an even 3 boys and 3 girls, each with their own beliefs and different backgrounds. Above all else, each of them had a personal experience with Ultimate Despair more than anyone else, and were highly experienced when dealing with these situations.

"So, is it true?" Jess asked, leaning up in her chair with her palms under her chin curiously. "Are we really going to try expanding the Foundation?"

"I find that hard to believe." Korin said with the shake of his head. "You expect me to believe there's another hospitable land out there within that poisonous atmosphere, AND capable of housing numerous members of the Future Foundation too?"

"I kind of have to agree with that." Eniese commented, stirring her cup of coffee with a plastic spoon. "While I can't side with Korin's usual demeanor, I would find it hard to think of somewhere else in this world that's hospitable to for the Foundation to use."

"I understand your concerns, but I think he's willing to explain that bit..." Naegi noted.

John confirmed this with a simple nod. With the simple "flish 'n a swick" with his laser point, through the miracle of advanced tech., the lights dimmed within the room as a holographic projection displayed in the center of the meeting table. It was these kinds of advanced technologies that truly intrigued Naegi. Looking back at it, she wondered if her best friend, Fujisaki, would've loved to see this stuff if she was still around.

"Your assumption is correct." John replied. "With some technology we've purchased from the Towa City Group, we believe we can start establishing settlements across the world."

"Technologies?" Tom questioned, leaning back in his chair while chewing on a toothpick.

"Air purifiers to be specific." John added. Swishing his laser-like pen across the hologram, the holographic-image changed to an image of a ventilation-like device, somewhat in the shape of a satellite dish. "Remarkably enough, this is one of the reasons Towa City managed to prosper during the Despair-inducing Incident. They managed to purify the air of the poisonous atmosphere around the city since this started, keeping the city alive."

"Hmm, that's quite amazing!" Eniese commented, intrigued.

"So you think we can use these across the world?" Korin wondered. Despite the appeal at the start of the conversation, John shook his head a bit regrettably.

"Sadly, no. It'll still take some time to establish these city-by-city, and on top of that, it'll take even more time to purify the air, depending on the size of the city. At least several months for the average city."

"Well it's still better than nothing!" Naegi said with an enthusiastic tone. "At least this way we can start building up cities again."

"But it can't be that easy." Korin muttered, crossing his arms. "I'm not trying to sound pessimistic or anything, but we've never really had a meeting here where everything goes smoothly without some form of bad news." The other heads looked up expectantly at John, watching him sigh, once again, with regret.

"Once again, that would be correct." He replied. "The amount of money required to purchase any of these things would be substantial. Add that to the time it would take to secure a location and purify the air, we're looking at a year's time just to purify one city."

"Awwww, then why are you telling us about this now?!" Jessica pouted. "I don't see why you're bringing this up now if there's no point to it for the next year!"

"Especially if we're only taking one city back at a time." Tom agreed with a nod. "Why bring it up now if we can't do anything?"

"It was mostly just an update on our current status." John explained. "Whether this year or the next ten, I figured it would be the best to inform everyone on this matter. And, including outside of this room, only a dozen people actually know of this update."

"Really?"

"Yes. This is just a VERY recent matter that has been discovered of late. I expect many different operations in the Foundation to change based on this development. Anything to help with the expansion problems and to produce profit, a lot of changes may be made to increase our profit."

Korin rubbed his chin at this. "I see... I guess it is an important topic to bring up." He decided to agree. "If we're going to be going through numerous changes with our Operations, everyone would grow curious to our new approach."

If that was the case, then John did have the right idea in telling the numerous heads of the Future Foundation. With all their operations and future mission about to come to a change, odds were someone was bound to notice this change sooner or later. At that point, many people would be wondering and questioning what was with the new changes to the group.

As such, it would only be right to inform the heads of the different sectors and members of the Future Foundation. They knew they were officially assigned with spreading this information to the numerous inhabitants around here. They were the only ones who knew this information, henceforth, they were the ones responsible for making sure this information got around. Everyone understood this, mentally nodding to themselves, and would ensure they preformed this "information-relay" as expected.

...There was only one amongst the group who was slightly concerned.

"...B-But..." Naegi meeped, rubbing her chin gently. The others turned their attention back to the Ultimate Hope herself.

"What's wrong Naegi?" Jess asked tilting her head. Korin rolled his own eyes a little. One thing that annoyed him was that numerous things within their operations rubbed Naegi the wrong way- even if she was right about her issues.

"Doesn't anyone else find it a little...weird?" Naegi scratched her head a little. "I mean...y-you said these guys had these air purifiers at the start of all this, right? Doesn't that just seem a little...suspicious?"

For once in his life since meeting the "annoyingly-titled", at least to him, "Ultimate Hope", Korin couldn't help but find that a little bit surprising as well. He would never admit it, but she did have a point- how did this Towa Group have the necessary components and technology to purify the air right at the start of the Despair-Inducing Incident in the first place? That sounded suspicious alone, and mixed in with everything brought upon the world by the incident, none of the group members could help but grow concerned.

It was just about this time that one of the severs came in with a tray, consisting of two pictures of drinks; one consisting of tea, and the other consisting of the beloved coffee. The sight of it was enough to send stars into Jessica's eyes, eagerly taking the cup offered to her by the servant.

Unlike most of the other staff within the Future Foundation, he was one of the other staff that dressed differently. Not everyone wore the whole "black-suit thing" while working within the Foundation. There were numerous jobs within the facility, from simple janitorial duties, gardening, and a whole bunch of other random jobs. While none of them seemed as important, to build a prospering society, the Future Foundation found it necessary to seek out numerous roles and jobs to preform.

For those with different jobs, they were always dressed based on their roles, like the staff of the Future Foundation. Some wore simply gardening clothes, while others were clothed in a traditional chef's outfit. While this might not seem like such, it was actually an important matter. Within everyone's specific clothes, there were embedded microchips which were used to cross security checkpoints throughout the entire facility. No matter where someone was, be it the hallways or simply going through a door, they wouldn't be able to without setting off an alarm, unless the microchip went off as they crossed the sensors.

The security was truly impressive.

"Yeaaaah!" She cheered, scarfing down the drink immediately. The rest continued to chat as the servant placed everyone's cups at their side. Being the professionals they were, all the servants knew which drinks and food the head members of the Foundation preferred without even needing to ask. They even knew Naegi's preference of tea over coffee.

"I understand your concerns." John assured with a nod. "There's some things were investigating in the matter, but so far, there doesn't seem to be any wrong-doing."

"I'm not all too surprised to be honest." Eniese spoke up. "I've heard much about the Towa Group in the past. They have one of the most responsive companies around the world. I wouldn't be too surprised if they were on top of things since the incident occurred."

"Mmh..." Naegi moaned to herself while looking down at her drink. She couldn't agree or disagree with that, mostly due to the fact that she's never even heard of the Towa group in the past until now. She guessed it would have made some sense if that was the case, just hearing it upfront like that seemed suspicious to her.

That didn't stop the unease in her chest of course. Just hearing how some city was "conveniently" on top of things since the beginning of the "Near-End of the world", it sounded a little too good to be true. Then again, it wasn't like Towa City was the ONLY city across the world that was still thriving or anything, which is why she didn't mind it all too much.

With a sigh and a shrug, Naegi stirred her cup of tea for a brief moment before replying. "Well...I guess that makes sense." She conceded. During that brief admittance, she looked across the table for something to sweeten the tea the way she liked it. "Hey, where's the sugar?"

"Oh, my apologies." The servant apologized, digging through the chest pulled out two small cubes of sugar. With a smile, Naegi waited patiently as he placed them in her tea, stirring it herself immediately after.

"Thank you." She nodded in return, earning a replying nod as the servant began to walk away again. Smelling the sweetening smell of the warm tea, Naegi eagerly brought it up to her lips. Just imagining how well it might taste based off the aroma alone, it already gave her goosebumps just thinking about how it would taste-

_***BANG!***_

_***shatter***_

"Ack-!"

_*thud!*_

"Owww!"

*_CRASH!*_

"Oof!"

Nothing could be said for the last thirty seconds that just flew by Naegi. The sore girl could only rub her head from the soreness she felt as a daze entered her vision. She couldn't see straight for a few seconds, everything appearing blurry around her. The last thing she did remember seeing, for a split second, was her tea cup suddenly exploding in front of her, the fright from it causing her to fall backwards in her chair.

From there, the next thing she felt was the back of her head hitting, somewhat painfully, the floor behind her, and the sound of something crashing from around her. Whatever it was, it sounded like somebody collided into something or another, as to who or what though remained the mystery. And did she just hear a gunshot go off? A gunshot?! There wasn't any other screams, nor other gunfire going off, so whoever it was must've been taken down or restrained, explaining the crashing noise she heard.

With her vision slowly returning and the confusion slowly clearing up, she was met with a sight that only brought twice as much confusion back to her:

Her eyes widening in shock and surprise, there she her- Ikusaba. What the heck was she doing all the way up here? Looking closer at her, she could tell something was indefinitely wrong, the loud beeping noise on her chest going off. Naegi gulped silently to herself, fearful, not of the young girl, but of the expression on the young girl. It was a mix of sorrow, regret, fear, stress, anger, every single negative emotion that could set off the mentally-fragile girl.

What could have happened to her?

Trailing her hand she had lowered down, she was more than shocked to see her holding a pistol, her hands shaking violently as if actually trying to force herself to hold it. No, not that...from Naegi's perspective, it looked more along the lines that she was forcing herself to not shoot whatever it was pressed against. To add to her surprise, the subject of the pressing turned out to be the very same servant who had delivered the drinks to them just moments ago. His face was contorted with a mix of utmost fear and horror as Ikusaba pressed the barrel of her gun firmly against his forehead, right between his eyes.

From the wreckage she could see surrounding them, just tipping the amount of surprise Naegi already had, there appeared to be the shattered remains of the holographic-projector! Naegi was a little fearful of whatever newfound strength Ikusaba must've used up just recently, realizing she must've crashed the servant himself straight into the machine. A machine made of metal at that! And here it lied, completely shattered and broken into pieces!

Looking around herself, Naegi realized she wasn't the only one at-the-ready at this moment. Whether they came in immediately after, or were already present, it didn't matter. All of them, holding a firm grip on each of their pistols, six different Foundation members had already sprung into action, aiming their gun straight at Ikusaba. It didn't matter if Naegi was uneasy or ordered them not to shoot her, they would not take a chance if Ikusaba planned on killing the poor soul she had pinned down.

Needless to say, that very same poor soul was probably the only thing keeping Ikusaba alive at this point. If she tried or ended up killing the guy, there would be nothing holding them back from unloading all their clips into Ikusaba effectively. They knew based on her experiences, however, that if they tried to stop her now, she would indefinitely kill the defenseless soul beneath her in a heartbeat.

And there was still the matter of Ikusaba's eyes that truly got to her. Naegi had seen this look only once in her life since coming to the Future Foundation, where Ikusaba's eyes were devoid of everything but hatred and...Despair.

...

...

_***Ikusaba's Day***_

"Hellooooooo? Ms. Eleanor?" Ikusaba called out throughout the white room.

That's the only thing that the room did consist of- pure white. Everything within the room was bright-white. From the sofa in which Ikusaba would lay upon while going through the therapy, to the white circular table within the room, and the white chair that her instructor, Ms. Eleanor, would sit in. Given the circumstances behind these "Therapy sessions", and the fact the walls and floors themselves were made of a foam-like fabric, you would almost think this was a room that a lunatic would be kept in for "their" own safety.

Technically, that was part of the case, as delving into Ikusaba's psyche to understand her better did tend to have a small emotional break with the young girl from time to time. The pure white setting all around her was supposed to help represent a calming atmosphere psychologically. Whether or not it actually was working on her remained to be seen, seeing how Despair-induced people could hide their emotions well, but she did manage to calm down from time to time from these emotional issues.

One of the hard parts about maintaining these "Therapy Sessions" were trying to keep the broken girl from having an emotional breakdown. With Ikusaba's first-hand knowledge of those surrounded by despair, as well as knowing how they act in terms of ideals and plans, they couldn't afford to break the valuable girl while she was working for them. Aside from possibly running amok and going crazy, the last thing they wanted was to lose a valuable asset to them. Whether or not they wanted to keep Ikusaba alive at first, all things considered, she was indefinitely a precious ally to the Future Foundation.

That's why, no matter what the circumstances, they couldn't afford to have her slipping back into despair. Not only would they end up losing the valuable ally, if Ikusaba slipped back into despair and escaped, she would have knowledge of all the workings of the Future Foundation itself. She could easily relay that knowledge to any and all leaders remaining who've succumbed to Despair, and easily help them wipe out the Future Foundation and all it's workings.

She was both, an asset, and a threat.

_*voom*_

Ikusaba's attention turned to the other side of the wall as the door rose to the ceiling. During said time was the only possible means to see any other color from the outside hallway, which was pretty obscured by the figure walking in, and even more after the door closed immediately upon entering.

The figure definitely wasn't Ms. Eleanor, or anything she was expecting. For one thing, she, wasn't even a she, but a he. Secondly, he had crisp, clear, glasses, not like the other Foundation members tended to have. Sure, Ms. Eleanor did have a tendency of taking her glasses off when speaking to Ikusaba, but she still always kept her black glasses at all times.

Aside from that, he was pretty much dressed appropriately for his profession. Having a sweet stylish blue tie, and what appeared to be a doctor's outfit, he did seem to be someone along the lines of hospital care, whether that involved physical therapy, or the one she was supposed to be attending, psychological therapy. He did seem nice as per his profession, having a common brown hair style and a sincere smile with his clipboard and such, but there was something about this that seemed a little _off_ to Ikusaba.

Then again, every therapy session felt like this. She absolutely HATED these things beyond all reason, so it wasn't too surprising that she found the circumstances to be a little weird.

"You're not Ms. Eleanor..." Ikusaba stated in a questionable tone.

"No, no, I'm afraid Ms. Eleanor is having a sick day. Apparently she caught a bug." The therapist proclaimed, adjusting his glasses. "I'm Mr. Torrose, I'm filling in for Eleanor while she's gone." He explained before gesturing to the sofa where Ikusaba always sat. "Please, have a seat."

Ikusaba did a brief double take between the doctor and the sofa for a minute before complying, lying calmly on her back. There was something a little odd, yet again, but she couldn't tell what it was given all that was happening. Hearing a small clicking noise from his pen, she shifted her eyes back as the doctor took a seat in his own white leather chair.

"So, based on Ms. Eleanor's previous notes, she told me she wanted to go over your past moments of stress since you came to the Future Foundation." Torrose explained, crossing his right leg over his left knee. "She said there was one event that took place here...that she said was pretty bad? Would you mind filling me in on that?"

Ikusaba frowned a little as she turned her head away. Even after all this time, being about several months since the "incident", they still continued to talk about it like it happened yesterday, not that Ikusaba could blame them or anything. It was a really big incident in the end of all things, plus given the details of what happened, Ikusaba should've been locked up by this point, if not executed, after what she did...

...

*****_**3 1/2 Months prior***_

_In all her time at the Future Foundation, this incident had only occurred ever once, and only about eight months ago. During that time, on her way to another therapy session, Ikusaba overheard a strange prisoner-transfer that was taking place within the holding prisons within the foundations. With this information, not even being heard of by Naegi, she found the curiosity taking over her as she decided to investigate the matters for herself. _

_Traveling down to Sector-8, where the prison sector was located, she eased her way through the confines of the jail undetected- the security measures were state of the art, but for the Super High School Level Mercenary, they were nothing to her. It did still take her awhile to get down to the area of interest in doing so, of course, but it was to be expected if she was to make her way down to a secluded area. _

_Finally arriving at the aforementioned area, she discovered what all the fuss was about. On top of that, she discovered a scene that drove her over the edge; reaching down to the lower area of the prison, she discovered numerous Despair-induced people fro the world all-around._

_Normally, the prison housed numerous enemies and traitors to the Foundation, not just Despair-induced civilians as she learned just now. These prisoners consisted of people who've either betrayed the Foundation and turned their back on them, or people who've committed terroristic-like attacks on the Foundation from within, in one form or another. _

_But Ikusaba had known nothing about the housing of other Despair-like civilians! And why didn't she?! Naegi was the head of a lot of organizations and operations that ran throughout the facility, but, especially something like this, Naegi should've told Ikusaba if this was going on. Did she not know it herself? Was Naegi actually kept out of the loop for this current situation? Or was she purposely keeping this issue a secret for Ikusaba's own protection for some reason?_

_Whatever the matter, the fact remained the same that all of these people were induced with Despair. She saw some old people, young people, others no older than Naegi and then some younger ones. All of them had that same empty look in their eyes, the one people receive when they've all but given up on any possible hope for themselves. Just thinking about it alone was enough to make Ikusaba's heart race a little._

_*bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-*_

_"Gehhh!" Ikusaba grumbled quietly, gritting her teeth. _

_Looking back on it, she supposed it did make some sense once she thought about it. She remembered some of Naegi's operations involved dealing with Despair-Induced people directly in the hopes of figuring out how they succumbed to this despair in the first place. Putting the dots together in her mind, she figured this must've been where they housed some of the more dangerous Despair-induced people, knowing that Naegi didn't deal with all the Despair-induced prisoners the Foundation had captured. _

_...So what were these people doing here? Almost jumping at the sound, being caught off guard from her in-depth thoughts, she heard a small buzzer-like alarm go off throughout the hallways. Noticing some conveniently placed crates at the time, she quickly duck in cover, wondering if someone was coming. Had her presence been discovered? She didn't see any security cameras or alarms prior to this, and she had first-hand knowledge of any and all possible security systems they had put into place. _

_Looking back down the hallway, to her curiosity, she actually saw several of the cell doors opening to the prisoners' rooms. Instead of anyone going into them, she watched as they all just walked out in a zombie-like state, that look in their eyes telling her just how far "gone" they've become. It was almost like a trance, seeing how they just walked down the hallway with one another. Just catching a small glimpse in their eyes, from Ikusaba's point-of-view, it looked as if they were expecting something from wherever they were going. _

_The question was, what? _

_Waiting till the coast was completely clear, Ikusaba trailed along behind them, doing everything to keep into cover. Watching them go through a set of double doors, one specifically labeled "Off Limits!", it seemed just a bit too suspicious not to investigate further, following them along through the doors. She was just in time to see the horrific image that still scarred her to this very day._

_*_**_BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-!*_**

_Ikusaba's heart nearly froze as the air became suffocating. This wasn't right, in fact this was far beyond right! Naegi couldn't have known this, could she?! The sight of it alone filled Ikusaba with an overwhelming sense of dread and, for the first in a long while, Despair. This was inhumane no matter how much she tried to pretend it wasn't real. It couldn't be real! It wasn't real! It had to be a fake! No matter how much she shouted these thoughts into her head, nothing would let up. The scene was real, and there was no looking away from it. _

_Almost immediately upon entering the room, she was met with a fairly dark room, the only lights coming into it being the one spotlight which peered at the wall the Despairing individuals found their backs pressed against. All them didn't seem to have a care in the world, all with those despairing smiles creeping upon their faces. Ikusaba had only seen that look in person ever once- when she watched her own sister die in front of her. _

_Then it happened. _

_In what could only be described as a wave of sparks, Ikusaba's entire world became suffocating as she watched a firing squad, one that had been hiding within the darkness itself, opened fired on the possibly-expecting victims against the wall. All of them, not so much as batting an eyelash or seeming bothered by this sudden genocide, unloading all of their ammo upon the defenseless civilians against the wall, not stopping in the least until all the victims had fallen over. _

_The only thing that was left was the smoke left over, which seeped out of the walls of the gun-hole-shaped markings in the walls. Looking at it closely, she could easily tell there were portions of it which displayed old blast marks, easily revealing to her how this wasn't the first line of sudden executions that had taken place here, and she doubted it was going to be the last to these poor souls._

_Of course they were poor to her- she knew exactly what one must truly go through to succumb to despair like she once did! And here, this? They were just shooting at them like mindless animals, or criminals who had truly done something wrong! Sure, what those with despair were capable of were truly horrific, yet, they too, were the victims as much as their previous ones. It was saddening to her how people could succumb to despair like this, knowing exactly what their lives must've once been like, and then to throw all of that away for the sake of despair._

_It was suffocating...it was too much! Ikusaba's heart rate skyrocketed as she began to breathe heavily. Her pupils dilated as she began holding onto her own shoulders, hugging herself as she shook violently. At the same time, the lights had suddenly came on, revealing the Foundation members that had just finished executing their victims. None of them had a single look of remorse on their faces, nor crookedness in their posture. They just carried out, what they thought to be, "justice", and hadn't a single regret about it. _

_To her, they looked like people, only made out of pure black shadow._

_ "S-Stay c-ca-calm..." She muttered to herself, falling to her knees as she began bobbing slowly back and forth. No amount of therapy had trained her for despair or stress like this. It was en endless sea, filling her with a never-ending torrent of Despair. "O-One...two...th-th-three..." She tried numerous exercises and techniques to calm herself down, like she had been trained to once before. _

**_*Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep-!*_**

_The alarm on her chest had suddenly gone on it's second alert system. If the loud, blaring, horn hadn't tipped off the sudden executioners of her location, then the automated systems on her chest-piece would have notified the security. Their heads turned to her almost instantly, all of them with a sudden mixed of perplexed expressions on their faces._

_"Fuck, one of them got separated from the group!" She heard one of the cuss. _

_"Well what are you waiting for? Shoot her!" Another one of them yelled, already focusing his gun on herself. Only one of the dozen staff members knew about her true identity. _

_"Wait, stop-!"_

**_*Bang!*_**

_His plea had fallen on deaf ears as the same Foundation Member had already fired. Fortunately, he managed to pull his arm away immediately after, resulting in one shot being fired at all, but it was still one-shot-too-many for the shattering girl. On another fortunate side, the gun missed her almost completely, only scraping the side of her arm JUST slightly. _

_It didn't matter though, none of it did. Ikusaba would not recover from this sudden trauma._

_"Egghh...ehhhhhh...aghhhh..Ahagh-ah-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She let out a blood curdling scream, one which nearly filled the entire prison itself with a murderous cry. _

**_*WooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOO_**_-!*_

_The alarm on her chest had began blaring almost twice as loud as it once did, the sound being new to Ikusaba as something she had never heard before. She knew inside that there was only one case where she would hear this sound, but after all her past stress and times of emotional breakdowns, seeing how it appeared to require a much more potent amount of stress/Despair, she never thought it would get this bad in all her time here._

_It was the third and final degree for her implanted-security piece. It was the last and final security measure on her person that would only go off if she was in a dire state of succumbing to despair. Following the alarm, she knew what would follow it almost immediately after- electrocution._

_*bzzt*_

_...Or what it was supposed to be. Strange...that wasn't anything like she expected. If her despair had fallen too deeply, it was supposed to activate and preform a security measure to keep her from harming anyone else within the facility; a pure, lethal, electrocution, several times stronger than that of a normal Taser. Obviously, there was not meant to be any chance of survival, a factor which Naegi sadly knew, or at least told Ikusaba. It was supposed to keep her from harming anyone else, and the only factor Naegi was forced to agree too if Ikusaba was to be allowed sanctuary within the Future Foundation. _

_Like everything else, that didn't matter anymore. To her, she felt the shock to her chest, which felt like nothing more than a simple zap one would get when rubbing their feet over carpeting. To her though, it felt as if it never stopped zapping her, going on and on endlessly, and feeling the immense pain as it irradiated throughout her body. All of this, even the pain, was nothing more than a delusion in her mental state. She was completely broken at this point, and would need something immense to break her out of it._

_Which is why it didn't help when one of the guards from the room approached her, grabbing her wrists as they pulled her to her feet._

_"Nghhhhaaah! No-no! Lemme go! Let go!" She screamed frantically, trying to pry herself from the guard's surprisingly strong grip._

_"Grrrr c-calm down!" He grumbled, trying to get her to stop panicking. _

_Idiot. _

_Of course this wasn't going to work, but he was just going by "protocol" to restrain her. To her, he was nothing more than a menacing monster standing before her, one who looked eager to rip out and feast upon her own beating heart. It didn't help that he pushed her against the walls, pinning her wrists to the sides with it. _

_She couldn't handle this! All this despair, all this horror and stress, it was unbearable! How could she possibly handle anything like this?! She didn't know what to feel, other than the endless flow of despair which slowly continued to sink into her mind. _

_She was too unstable from this...becoming too erratic. That's why, she couldn't help what happened next._

_*CRACK*_

_"Holy shit, Leo!" One of the guards shouted. It was a natural reaction as they gazed upon their friend's face...who was looking at them in the same direction as his back. That shouldn't be normally possible- his head was in a full 180* angle. But, such was to be expected after how much Ikusaba warned him to let go, scaring the young girl to the point of no return._

_She snapped his neck. The minute she broke his grip free, all she needed to see was for him to make even the slightest "twitch" as he grabbed for her again, and that was it. In a sudden and swift movement, she snapped his neck in a single second, his body only collapsing in front of them all just after the realization had been made- and it didn't end there. _

_With her nerves already unsettled, and her mind slowly slipping away, Ikusaba frantically swiped the pistol from the former-employee's remains, shakily aiming it at the other guards. None of them dare tried to raise their own guns at the hysterical girl, knowing full well how quick her reaction time was from the sudden display. Nodding slowly to one another with their eyes, they all slowly tossed aside their guns, raising their hands in the air surrendering. _

_"G-ege-gegh-ge-get back!" Ikusaba stuttered frantically. Ther ewas no doubt she was hysteric at the moment, and was getting more and more distraught with the surge of despair she was currently feeling. Everyone knew not to cross her in anyway. _

_"L-Look, j-ju-just take it easy there, Iku." One of the guards spoke softly, trying to remain calm. "T-Tell us what you want." _

_He seemed to be a lot more informative and analytical than the rest of the worrying guards were at that moment. He could tell right off the back, she would've easily killed them right there and then if she truly wanted to. The fact she didn't showed some form of sanity, but even that wasn't going to last long. Shaking as if she was freezing while slowly looking around, she gritted her teeth tighter as the tears poured from her eyes, squeezing her eyelids shut._

_"N-Na-Naegi! Give me Naegi!" She stammered. The same guard gave a calming nod as he slowly rose his left wrist towards his face. This only seemed to agitate her further, knowing she was trailing his hand with her gun. _

_"O-Okay, okay, just stay calm." He pleaded, slowly clicking on the wristwatch-like device on his arm. Apparently, it seemed to double as a communicator as a small static-like noise could be heard. "H-Hey, this is Alfred in Sector-8, requesting immediate assistance." To prove himself that he wasn't up to anything, and that there weren't any tricks, he kept the communicator on speaker._

_"This is Radio Control to Secotr-8. What appears to be the pro-"_

_"G-GIMME NAEGI!" Ikusaba shouted angrily, thinking the radio would hear her if she shouted while standing thirty feet away- which it did. _

_"...What was that?" _

_"L-Look, this is an emergency situation. Have the Heads bring Makoto Naegi down here asap-"_

_"N-NOW!" Ikusaba stammered angrily, apparently thinking "asap" and "now" stood for two different types of speed._

_"I-I mean now, get her here now!" _

_"Dude, seriously, let's just-" One of the guards on his right tried to speak, leaning over to him._

_*_**_BANG_**_!* _

_"Aww FUCK!" He yelped out in pain, holding his right leg where Ikusaba shot it. There was a small trickle of blood still seeping from the wound, but he was fortunate enough Ikusaba was still sane enough to avoid any vitals or arteries. _

_"NOW!" Ikusaba screamed again._

_Thus, what appeared to be a minor "Hostage Situation" ensued for the following Half-Hour. Fortunately enough, using one of their own coats as a bandage, the lead guard managed to wrap the opened wound, stopping the bleeding to a stable degree. It was the best they could do under these situations, seeing how they couldn't move from that very spot. It took nearly fifteen minutes alone just trying to convince Ikusaba to let them sit him down and slide their guns over to her. _

_By the time Naegi even got there, still having little-to-no idea of what was going on, she was in shock; she actually didn't care about the dead guard in front of her, at least not entirely, as the scenery itself already spoke loud and clear for her. All she was concerned for at that time was her friend, who was now curled up on her knees, holding onto her sides while both tears and sweat dripped from her face. She hadn't uttered a single word or sniffle, however. _

_Looking around, while still surprised by the dead guard, she got a good assumption of what had occurred; apparently, Ikusaba stumbled upon what appeared to be a firing range, and not the kind for "sport" and whatnot either. This was one meant specifically for Executions only- Naegi had seen plenty of movies in her life to tell by this point. _

_While she didn't know who they were at the time, by her own guess, she figured Ikusaba must've watched some execution take place, one Naegi didn't even know was going on around here. Matter of fact, most of the Future Foundation was unaware of this situation (the execution thing, not Ikusaba's mental breakdown)! _

_Speaking of, Naegi was the only one who had been allowed into the room since the incident. At least several other Future Foundation members had tried to enter the room upon discovering some disturbance, all of them being shooed with a "warning shot" by Ikusaba herself. All of them were lucky that Ikusaba managed to maintain her sanity for this long, lest she end up killing the last dozen guards that had tried to enter the room. That explained why Naegi came across several of her close friends, and the near-two dozen guards waiting outside the doorway behind some form of cover. _

_Initially, Naegi had a specific task which the Foundation ordered her to do: Subdue Ikusaba. They gave her a syringe of some strange liquid which she was asked to inject into her as soon as she could. Naturally, her reaction was, as soon as Ikusaba glanced at her for a brief moment, was to break the syringe on the ground, unable to tell if the contents were dangerous or some form of sedative. _

_She still made sure she was slow as she approached the unstable girl, but she never lost the calming smile on her face as she approached Ikusaba, even if her head was lowered. By the time Naegi had finally reached her, kneeling down to her, Ikusaba seemed to have some sort of sense that Naegi was near, as she began crying audibly at this point._

_"N-Na-Naegi..." Her voice trembled. _

_"H-Hey, Ikusaba, it's alright." She said softly, slowly patting Ikusaba's shoulder. Simply touching her was just enough to set her off. _

_"NAEGI!" she screamed crying, squeezing Naegi tightly with her arms wrapped around her side as she cried into her chest. Despite what Naegi was told Ikusaba did, Naegi only cared for her friend at that moment, henceforth the small smile as she slowly stroke Ikusaba's head. _

_Looking back to where the six remaining guards were, Naegi gave them a confident nod as a "signal". Nodding back to her in response, the head guard, and one of the other guards on the injured guard's side, helped their friend up as they slowly walked out towards the door. Waiting till they were gone at this moment, Naegi sighed as she patted her friend's head again, waiting till the fragile girl had finally calmed down. The guards awaiting outside the halls wouldn't dare come in until they were sure Ikusaba wouldn't pose a threat or endanger Naegi in any way._

_This little act would end up taking several hours. _

_In the aftermath that followed, many issues were brought to light, and were dealt with. First off, the guards of the "execution range", and the manager of Sector-8 were both arrested the following day. It turned out this "Execution range" was a way for some of the guards to blow off steam. During many of their missions, it wasn't too uncommon for many friends to lose their lives battling despair, with just about everyone who went on these daily missions having a 80% survival rate. _

_On top of that, as it was one of Naegi's numerous conditions before working with the Future Foundation, more than half their missions involved "rescuing" people who've fallen into despair, bringing them back to the prison for hopes of breaking them of their Despair. You can clearly picture how numerous people would be a little irritated at the idea of sacrificing their own lives for a group of people already out there killing them and their friends. _

_To add to the dilemma, none of those who've fallen into Despair seemed to care about this, which made it easy for them to keep a low profile and just accept this execution. After all, the despair of Death was considered one of the highest forms of despair, so to them, it was practically a blissful heaven to them before their final moments._

_Whether her luck might have played a factor to this or not, Ikusaba was, fortunately, not pressed with charges for the murder she committed, or the injured guard she ended up shooting. There was plentiful security footage which was confiscated during the Manager's arrest, helping provide solid evidence of their wrongdoing, and Ikusaba's innocence. As far as they were concerned, it was legitimate self-defense in some case, and they opened fire first. _

_ Some of them were a little discouraged about this reality, though. Some would've happily enjoyed seeing a member of Ultimate despair behind bars, or possibly executed..._

_That didn't mean there weren't repercussions from the incident either. For starters, Ikusaba was heavily sedated until all the details and facts could come to light for the following week. She was bedridden in her sedation, yet still seemed to be conscious in some form as she just stared at the ceiling everyday, at least until Naegi came by to visit per day. She would've stuck around longer, but she was busy trying to find out what went wrong, and to prove Ikusaba's innocence. _

_Secondly, after the issue was resolved, the Foundation still didn't let up on Ikusaba lightly. For starters, for the following month that occurred, Ikusaba was still an emotional wreck. She couldn't handle being away from Naegi for more than a few minutes at a time due to the trauma she witnessed. How could she be blamed anyway? To watch as a group of people casually just execute people who were similar to you without any care would traumatize anyone! _

_Because of this, for the next full week after the sedation, Naegi was forced to go with Ikusaba to her latent week-long therapy session. Naturally, it lasted a week long due to the circumstances behind it. They needed to get Ikusaba back under some form of control until she could do her every-other-day therapy session like she used to. _

_Naegi didn't mind coming with her, of course. She wanted to be there for her friend, and she wanted to prove to Ikusaba that things were fine now. It was her time to help her for a change out of all the times she helped Naegi in the past. It did feel a little awkward seeing how the Foundation restrained her while escorting both her and Naegi to each session, wanting to make sure there weren't any chances, but it was only for a small while. Eventually, Ikusaba managed to get by just fine just by hearing Naegi's voice over radio or some form of communication until the month had passed. _

_..._

_..._

_..._

And thus leads us to our current point in time. By now, recounting her events, like it had every session that followed, Ikusaba had a small trail of tears leaking from her eyes. The events practically scarred her, and she couldn't help but tear up each time she remembered everyone who she watched be executed in front of her. It felt like they were all executing portions of herself, making it unbearable to live with.

Whether to spite her or actually help her, she was forced to recall these events ever since at every therapy session for a full half-hour. Ms. Eleanor wanted to urge the distraught girl to push past this event in her life to help ensure she wouldn't succumb to despair just from remembering this anymore.

It did help a little and everything, seeing how she could now handle being on her own once more. As always, it still made her feel a little awkward, having to recount these events on a once-every-two-days basis.

*sniff*

"T-They didn't even do anything wrong..." Ikusaba sniffled as she lied on the bedding on her stomach.

Sadly, there was a bit of the truth in that. Not to an entire degree, but enough to make her argument valid. Not all of those executed at the Execution's range were actually guilty of doing much harm. Sure, some of them did commit some heinous act to a degree, but surprisingly enough, a good majority of them had simply given up on life itself, their despair just making them give up on doing anything.

These were the most harmless of the people that gave into despair, and the most common the Future Foundation came across. Sure, some of them did have a form of behavior that could easily upset them compared to others, but it wasn't anything that made them dangerous thereafter.

*_snggggggghhhhhhhh_!*

Ikusaba made sure to dispose of her tissue after she finished sneezing.

"I understand. I read much of the reports that followed the incident." Dr. Torrose gave a respectful nod. "You have my upmost sympathy."

*_bzzt_*

*_bzzt_*

Ikusaba jumped a little from the sudden buzzing noise. It's times like this, when she's in an emotional stupor, she'd often on get startled by the unexpected things in life, no matter how little they may be. This time around, instead of the small buzzing that resonated from her chest should her chest piece go off suddenly, it was the sound of her ear piece going off.

She remembered in days past when the only time she'd ever hear that was when her sister would contact her. During those times, her sister was still the person she once knew and loved, someone she didn't realize was slowly slipping away as time wore on. As part of some "coping therapy" with Dr. Eleanor, Ikusaba was forced to "come to terms" with her sister's death. While it wasn't exactly something new to her, seeing how she made peace even before Junko's death, it did give her some insight and minor ounce of additional peace.

While it was only audible for her to hear, Torrose couldn't help but notice the sudden change of look on her face. It was kind of hard NOT to make a face these days when her earpiece went off. Since coming into the Future Foundation, Ikusaba and Kirigiri have been keeping a means to communicate with each other, in one form or another.

"Is something wrong?" He asked. Ikusaba gave him a brief smile.

"I have to take this, just a sec." She replied quickly, turning on her earpiece.

It wasn't just to keep tabs on Ikusaba secretly, just to see how she's handling herself without Naegi around, but for Naegi's well being as well. While still maintaining a somewhat rivalry with one another, the two were now friends. Both of these friends had a grand fondness for Naegi, and because of that, they would do whatever means were necessary to keep her alive through all of this, hence forth the communications.

So what was she calling for?

"Hello? Hey Kirigiri, what's-..."

Mr. Torrose couldn't tell at what was going on. Considering the earpiece was, naturally, in Ikusaba's ear, he couldn't hear a lick of what was going on. To be honest, he couldn't even tell if she should be having an earpiece like this. Having some detailed report on Ikusaba's background, he was aware of some of the sessions these therapies had, and knew for a fact, she shouldn't have any outside sources, especially a weapon, and let alone a earpiece like this.

Yet, there was some change occuring in Ikusaba's expression that really got his attention. Slowly, from start to finish, he watched as her expression changed from a seemingly calm smile, to that of a worried, shocked, tone. There was something about her eyes, some look of fear and horror in them, that made her panic about something. She was only on the listening end of things, but whatever she was hearing was enough to make her fret.

"What...Are you su-..." He heard her mumble to the person on the other end. "B-But...how can...Huh!" The final gasp was enough to jump Ikusaba to her feet. Mr. Torrose responded in turn as she suddenly started to squeeze the side of her head, worrying.

*_bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-*_

"I-I-I have to g-go!" Ikusaba stuttered, shaking. "I h-have to go somewhere, have to go... have to go..."

"H-Hey, hey, it's alright, calm down." Mr. Torrose tried to ease her tension, rubbing her shoulders. "L-Look, I have some medicine that can calm your nerves, just give me a minute." He stated, digging through his coat pocket as he pulled out a small syringe and a bottle.

It didn't seem dangerous to her just from basic appearance, and she had been rugged a few times when she panicked during these sessions by Ms. Eleanor. All it did was just relax her muscles a little, nothing major.

"B-But I have to go somewhere...I-I have to...go..." Ikusaba hugged herself trying to stay calm. She knew various methods of staying calm as practiced by Ms. Eleanor, hugging herself seeming to be the most common and simple, but it wasn't enough to fully recover from her stress, just enough to keep her at ease until she calmed down on her own.

"It's okay, it's alright," Mr. Torrose assured as he filled the syringe, "I'm sure Naegi's going to be fine."

"I-I know, b-but I have to help h-" Ikusaba suddenly froze as her eyes widened. With a blank, soulless star, she gazed into his eyes, filling him with confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"..." Ikusaba slowly began to tremble as her lips quivered, backing away a couple feet. "H-How...How did you know...it was about Naegi?"

"!"

The trap had been leaked without his knowing. Realizing it just now, she never once said anything about Naegi's life being the one in peril. Some could testify that she was talking about her own life, which was understandable at her moment of fear, but she never said anything truly about what her actual concern was. Which is why it was nearly impossible for Mr. Torrose to know the dilemma to her concern...unless he was in on it too.

Squeezing a bit of the juice out of the syringe for emphasis, the expression on his face said it all- he was in on whatever was going on all of a sudden.

"Couldn't just take your medicine, could you?" He questioned with a smug tone. "Let me fix that for you!"

"Ngh-!"

Ikusaba suddenly jumped internally as he lunged right on top of her, knocking her to the ground. With all her training behind her, the fact he had yet to inject her with whatever the strange liquid was just proved how advanced she was in her own military training. Yet, the amount of stress from her sudden fear was what caused her delayed reaction at this time. If she was at her full, she would've more than easily managed to suppress and overpower the man before he could assault her. Because of that, she was now on the defending end of his attack, as he attempted to plunge the syringe right into her eyes.

Her heart continued to race faster and faster, alerting the security on her chest piece about her condition. She grumbled to herself as she knew if this continued, the stress would continue to build up, and the alarm on her chest would go off- and that was only for the second level of security! If things became really bad, the third and last setting on her chest piece would've occurred. Despite the fact it hadn't killed her several months ago, a factor she never got the details of, or just couldn't recall from the stress that day, it did zap her a little during the crisis that occurred. Even if it was only a minor buzz, the brief zap to her would've been enough to stun her for at least a full second, and she would find herself with a syringe in her eye.

But as always, there was one thing that got to her that told her why she couldn't allow herself to fail: Naegi. She was the only thing she found life worth living for nowadays. Cheesy as it was, it was the truth. She _needed_ Naegi the most out of all things out there. She relied on Naegi to fill her with happiness, and she would do everything to ensure she returned the same feeling. And this guy was now officially in on what Kirigiri called her for, AND trying to get in the way of hings!

That obviously set her off.

Trying to get any part of her limbs free, she managed to free her right leg, and use it in a way that could easily subdue all men; by kneeing him right between the legs. Naturally, this brought about an insurmountable pain in his lower regions, losing his sudden strength and his composure, giving Ikusaba enough time to overpower him. With a loud grumble to herself, and a strong push, she managed to kick the assailant off of her person, kicking him back and crashing into the desk a yard away from her, smashing it to pieces. It was more than enough force to do so, and added with the man's weight and Ikusaba's strength, it was not an impossible feat.

Panting heavily, trying to maintain some composure and keep her stress levels from getting too high and set off another alarm, she took the brief moment from standing to see her attacker's current state. Not surprising in some degree, it looks like he ended up accidentally stabbing himself in the stomach. Being a syringe with a near-centimeter thick needle, it wasn't anything lethal or deadly to be worried off, less it ended up in his eye like he attempted with Ikusaba moments ago. But it did seem to do what he attempted to earlier.

Looking over his condition for a brief second, not entirely "wanting" him to die seeing how much trouble a person's death at her hands caused trouble for Naegi, he appeared to be in an exhausted or disoriented state, the contents of the syringe being injected into him upon impact. At least he was being honest about the "calming nerves" thing from the injection, though by her guess, it was supposedly more potent than she expected it to be for herself.

Now wasn't the time for things like this though. With a determined expression on her face, she quickly ran through the automatic doors after opening it, sprinting down the hallways with high speed. It wasn't too surprising, but many of the different guards along the hallways saw this little event taking place, notifying security about Ikusaba's strange and sudden behavior. While they were nowhere near fast enough to catch up with her,many of the guards began giving chase as a security alert was notified to all the guards, or at least the ones in the hallways she was coming across.

None of them knew what was going on, and Ikusaba herself was partly in the same position. All she was concerned about was the details that consisted of Kirigiri's warning, about Naegi's life being in peril. Like her sudden event earlier, it was because of this small distraction that she was unaware of a fellow guard who was hiding behind a corner of the hallway before it was too late.

Taking her by surprise, he managed to jump her, tackling her to the ground and pinning her arms to the floor. It was only during this struggling that she put up did she realize the other guards from further down the hallway were finally chasing her. She grunted to herself as she struggled, knowing if she was caught there, she would be restrained and captured before she could end up saving Naegi! She couldn't let anything happen to her Naegi!

*****_**Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep-***_

With another groan and a curse, she shifted her eyes down to the chest piece, even though it was currently under her shirt, as the secondary alarm went off. By now, an alarm would be sent to HQ, which, being in the middle of it would indefinitely make things increasingly difficult, and warn them about her current status. As per protocol, several more highly trained guards would be sent to her location on a moment's notice, all of whom consisted of actual guards who would prove CHALLENGING to her, not these "lamebrains", as she described, who simply call themselves "guards" for knowing Karate.

This unfortunate turn of events, however, seemed to be a blessing in disguise. During the time the alarm was going off, the sound more than easily provided to be a useful distraction to the guard above her. With his head now lowered and his eyes focused on the strange noise, not many people ever having heard the alarm coming from her chest, Ikusaba took the initiative once again.

With a massive chomp, she bit into the guard's arm, almost hard enough to puncture it and leave a good amount of blood left over. As expected, this sudden attack was enough for him to suddenly pull himself up again, squeezing the bitten arm tightly as he tried to sooth the pain. In one swift strike, using the split second that her hand was free, she jabbed him straight in the gut, hard enough to knock the air out of him, as well as his consciousness. Not only did she, as predicted, manage to knock the guard out cold, she also found his gun the guards kept upon themselves quickly giving it a good check to be sure it was loaded and decked. With a satisfied nod and seeing the other guards nearing her, she gave a quick warning shot, scrambling the guards who quickly dove behind cover or other hallway corners, seeing how she was now fully armed. By the time they even looked back, she had already bolted out of the scene, having shoved the guard off of her, and continuing her path towards Naegi.

All in the matter of 7.93 seconds, a new record to her 8.42 second limit.

It was a harrowing chase to say the least. Throughout the last several minutes, Ikusaba was forced to use all kinds of provisions and distractions in order to avoid her capture. It wasn't just a matter of outrunning the guards, she also needed to make sure she kept the location of her goal a relative secret. That's why she kept making different turns and paths along the way to the upper levels of the building, while still making sure to keep at a fast pace, and in the same general direction. From setting off fire extinguisher's to knocking people into the guards' path, she would not allow her capture before saving Naegi.

After a grueling five minutes of running, she managed to reach her destination, also simultaneously outrunning the guards a good few minutes away from her. Opening the door quickly, panting heavily after the long run she had just pushed herself through, Ikusaba leaned her arm against the door for a brief few seconds, the door opening silently like all doors do. The sight before her told her the exact same case Kirigiri had just finished explaining to her awhile ago, and she was literally down to the last few seconds.

Naegi was about to drink the dreaded contents that would likely end her life. It was already just inches away from her lips, so there was no way she would possibly stop from a simple shot or if she lunged for it! It was moments like this where her training proved most useful, especially with the ounce of despair from worry that was filling her expression. In one, fast-paced motion, and reflexes that one could ONLY obtain from training, Ikusaba skillfully shot the cup itself, avoiding any direct contact with Naegi's hands, shattering it to bits before Naegi could so much as touch the tip of the serving itself. This did, alternatively, end with her falling backwards, but a bump on the head was nothing compared to a possible death that almost befell her.

And there, he stood- the one man who she had focused all of her anger against during the proceedings of this event.

"Youuuu!" She grumbled angrily. In only a few seconds, during the course of the gunfire confusion, she tackled him off his feet, straight into the holographic projection, slamming him down with full force.

"Oof-!" The man yelped in pain as he was slammed onto the projector.

*_CRASH!*_

There was dust and debris that scattered across the room, sending some of the other members of the room into a small coughing fit. While a majority of the persons' in question could be seen, some of the important detail could not be noticed until much later- like the gun being pressed against her target's forehead. It didn't matter to her if Naegi had regained her composure, sitting only a few feet away from her. Ikusaba would ever let this man out of her sights until he was either dead, or behind bars. To be honest, she deeply preferred the latter towards anyone who would hurt HER Naegi.

She had no concern or care for the guards who had finally caught up to her, all aiming their guns directly at her and ready to fire. She was too smart for them, knowing that they wouldn't dare threaten to shoot her without risking the other member's life. There was no way they would ever risk another person's life while Ikusaba's own hands were wrapped around it.

"I-Iku...Ikusaba-" Naegi muttered quietly, trying to reach over for her friend.

"STAY BACK NAEGI!" Ikusaba yelled, never taking her gaze off the man as she did. She didn't want to shout at her beloved Naegi, it pained her inside just from thinking about it. But there was no way in hell she would allow her to get near this maniac, one who she deeply considered putting an end too if he so much as twitched.

Not counting the shaking look of horror on his face.

"I-I should kill you...Kill you...!" Ikusaba grumbled to herself. That alone was enough to set the other guards and security off. If they so much as waited another minute, they knew Ikusaba would've happily pulled the trigger. If a preemptive firing would prevent that, then so be it. All of them steadied their guns, clearing their mind of all thoughts, as they steadily pulled back the trig-

"WAIT!" A voice suddenly shouted, catching everyone's attention, save for Ikusaba's of course, as they turned to the doorway again. Hearing what sounded like pattering footsteps, Naegi was even more surprised as she saw Kirigiri suddenly appear, out of breath like Ikusaba was earlier.

"K-Kirigiri?" Naegi questioned. It couldn't just be a coincidence at this point. If both Ikusaba and Kirigiri had arrived at the same relative time, then something had to be up. She didn't know the details at this point, but she trusted her friends more than anything else.

"Hold...Hold your fire..." Kirigiri panted, exhausted. She must've ran for a good several minutes, given the state she was in. "Ikusaba is innocent! She didn't do anything wrong." Naegi raised a brow at this. She knew, too, that Ikusaba would never harm anyone that was good, and would still be inclined to not hurt anyone even if she was despairing or felt threatened in some way. That still didn't clear up the confusion all of a sudden from her latest statement.

"What do you mean...?"

...

...

...

_***Kirigiri's Day...***_

*_click*_

_*flash*_

Kirigiri ignored the passing-by investigators and crime scene analysts as she observed the body. This is what a majority of Kirigiri's work consisted of nowadays. As the Ultimate Detective, it was no surprise that when it came to her skills, the place the Future Foundation would put her in was overseeing all crimes and investigations that the Future Foundation was involved with. Now that Kirigiri was the last of her family, at least to her knowledge, there was no concern any longer about her family remaining "neutral" to anyone who required their assistance. There was only one world they lived in nowadays, and only one side in which she worked with.

To be fair though, she didn't care about that either. As long as she could live with and be with Naegi wherever she went, she would be content with just about anything requiring her skills. That's why she didn't have any concern or problem with the Foundation asking her to assist in the Investigation department of their operations. If each case could help ensure Naegi's life, then she would take on any job. That wasn't to say the Future Foundation threatened Naegi's life or anything, but they did make a valid point to her: with the world the way it was now, Naegi's life could be put at risk at any moment. As such, Kirigiri's role and life became clear.

With this, as detailed, she was in charge of all invesitgations that took place, where her skills were never put to waste.

When it came to the job itself, a lot of it came to things that she expected. Investigations and the works like in her old life, her skills were truly sought after to have requested her for all her investigations. From simple homicide to unexplained tampering and cases where things were missing, whether that be people or items of interest, Kirigiri was always the one on the case, and always the one who managed to bring the facts to all cases to light.

She had to admit, it was a bit easier with the advanced technologies provided by the Future Foundation itself. With just basic, handheld devices that could scan a person's footprint for her, or one that could read infrared markings left at numerous crime scenes, they provided a great detail of information for the young detective. Of course, with her current level of skill, she didn't "need" these devices mind you, they just helped sped up the investigations by a couple more minutes, rarely hours.

That didn't mean some cases were easy though. Especially now within the workings of the Future Foundation, with so much advanced tech, some of which she wasn't aware of them having until further into the case, it did make things quite challenging for her. There were numerous protocols along with each of the weaponry, and so many different facts and details she had to know about each and every case. As time went on, she got better at this once she memorized all the locations and areas, but there always seemed to be something new she needed to know with each and every case.

Like this one for example. Her current case was investigating a possible homicide within this home. Not many details were given, the crime scene having been preserved until Kirigiri's arrival. From what little was known, one of Chen Pei's, the victim, friend came over for a visit, having had no communications with his friend for the last several days. Upon entering the crime scene, they discovered his friend's remains just like that, still sprawled across the floor with no clear indication of what killed him.

Within a kitchen like this, there were numerous possibilities as to what did kill him, which is saying a lot when there wasn't any evidence of his murder. The only reason it was declared a murder was due to the fact several different footprints were noticed within the crime scene after investigating. Unfortunately, there was no telling how old these prints were, as the victim hadn't cleaned his floors for several weeks, and with his friends being over on a common basis, it was hard to determine if one of them killed him.

If his death was either accidental or self-caused, then it could only be concluded that it occurred while eating, seeing how he was fallen back on his chair, and his food was still lying out.

"Is there any indication of poisoning?" Kirigiri asked, rubbing her chin as she inspected the body up close.

"We're still waiting for results." Mileena, a red-haired girl with a ponytail, replied.

She was one of several of Kirigiri's assistances, being another member that the Future Foundation hired due to her skills. Like many others, with the exception of Kirigiri, Naegi, and Ikusaba on a regular basis, she was one of the few Future Foundation members who always wore their shades. She was also one of the younger people Kirigiri actually met when it came to the staff around here, being one year younger than Kirigiri, and a few inches shorter.

"It's still a possibility, but forensics have yet to find anything."

"It couldn't have been anything accidental." Mark commented, his hands dug into his pockets as always.

He was Kirigiri's second assistant, the guy with the spikey-blue hairdo. He did seem to be somewhat more skilled in the investigations, having more knowledge of the Future Foundation gave him said edge, although those two were more neck-and-neck when it came to skill level. Being only two years older than Kirigiri, she did appear to have a skill of deduction and investigating that even put Kirigiri on the edge. While they still constantly maintained a professionalism towards one another, she did find it hard to get along with him whenever he gloated about his findings.

It wasn't too common, but it did annoy Kirigiri when he did it even once.

"This is the third case we've had around here." The statement caught Kirigiri by surprise, briefly widening her eyes.

"This is the _third_ case we've had?" She repeated questionably. "Why wasn't I told anything about this?"

"Because we didn't know if it was a big deal or not." Mileena replied in Mark's place. "The first two cases happened one week apart in sector 2, so we just thought they were actual accidents."

"Then I also take it they were found in a similar state upon discovery?"

Mileena blinked curiously. "W-Well, yeah! How'd you know?"

"Because you wouldn't have just mentioned how this was the third case if there was no relationship between this and the other two." Kirigiri remarked. Mileena blinked once again, this time with surprise. As a fellow assistant to the "Ultimate Detective", she was amazed how much info Kirigiri could draw from a single comment.

Truly incisive... or Mileena didn't know much about common sense, either or.

"And I also assume that means nothing else was found at the crime scene of both locations?" Kirigiri continued.

"Pretty much." Mark nodded, leaning against the table with his arms crossed. "The crime scenes were all spotless and clean. Whenever each of them died, they must've been right in the middle of something."

"What makes you say that?" Kirigiri asked rubbing her chin. She was already running multiple facts and details in her head. Something about this case didn't feel right to her, her detective's Intuition going off all of a sudden.

"Well, the first guy we found was still watching TV apparently." Mileena replied tapping her chin.

"And the second guy was just reading a newspaper," Mark added, "poor sap never got to page 3."

"There wasn't any sign of struggle?" Kirigiri wondered. As expected, she earned a shake of the head from Mileena.

"Every spot was clean...you know, side from the dead body."

"And the victims themselves, did they have anything in common?"

"Not really." Mileena took the time to inspect the body again. "It's Sector-2 after all, so they only worked in foods and stuff."

"To be honest, we actually thought it was an accidental."

"But for someone else to come under the same conditions after a full week, and with the same M.O.? No way we're dealing with accidental cause anymore." Mark spoke with a small irritation in his voice. There was no way all of these occurrences could be accidental anymore. The only problem that got to him was how these "accidents" were occurring.

"Personally it sounds like a poison to me." Kirigiri suggested. "If all the victims died on the spot without any form of struggle, it had to be a quick-acting poison."

"We thought that too, but every time the autopsy reports came in, they had nothing. It was just...it was just a death according to them."

"What if they're wrong?" Mileena asked shrugging. "Nobody's perfect and all that, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were missing something."

"Normally, I'd agree with that. The only problem is the fact the first two victims only drank something, and nothing showed up." Mark retorted. "There wasn't anything in the drinks, and nothing in the stomach contents to indicate a poison."

"Well they didn't just die out of thin air either!"

"But you did say they drank something, right?" Kirigiri asked for clarification. The two of them looked at her strangely as she displayed a perplexed expression on her face. Her entire attention was directed to the body itself despite the fact she was speaking directly towards those these two. After the dozens of cases the two have worked on with her, they knew there and then, whenever Kirigiri made a face like that, she pondering something.

"Yeah...b-but like I said, there wasn't a single thing left at the crime scenes, and nothing in the autopsy reports." Mark repeated.

"...What if they didn't miss something?" Mileena looked up in her thoughts, unknowingly gathering the attention of the other two detectives.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well...I don't know, it's just...maybe there was something so obvious found that they overlooked it." Mileena suggested. "Either that or," she paused for a moment as she noticed the stares coming from the other two, "...or maybe they just didn't notice it?"

"..."

The two of them already had numerous thoughts running through their heads, but that didn't keep them from pondering MIleena's very existence itself. Mileena was mostly an average girl when it came to her life. She grew up in a similar situation of Kirigiri's, but her family wasn't as known by the world, and not because they preferred to keep a secret, as Kirigiri's were. She just grew up in an average-ish lifestyle surrounded by top investigators and detectives.

However, during the time they've spent together with her, she's always proved herself to be somewhat of an enigma to the two detectives. Whether it was through sheer dumb luck, a really well-thought-out guess, or somehow managing to come to the right conclusion all on her own, one thing she always displayed was a form of insight.

Knowing her personally, you wouldn't think so much. Out of the three, she was always the one with the least amount of skill to deal with, often on only being there to assist in the cases Kirigiri and Mark as followed. She often on appeared to be clumsy, kept forgetting things over the cases, and always managed to somehow get herself in some embarrassing situation, one way or another. On a side note, Kirigiri couldn't help but find it a little cute about how she reminded her of Naegi. She was more of a "sidekick" if anything towards the two. Yet sometimes, in situations like these, she would always manage to surprise the two by providing a sophisticated detail.

Times like this, she would offer up her own opinion or piece of advice that would strikingly shock the two, being the first one to arrive at such a conclusion without any prior thinking towards her statement. When it came to her, she just blurted out anything that pretty much came to her head. It was these "random ideas" though that proved the most useful, and one of the reasons the Foundation hired her on the Investigative Operations. Through her quick insight, whether or not she realized it herself, she always had a quick say in things that helped each case in the end.

If it wasn't for the fact she, for god-knows-why, couldn't tie her own shoes, her skill would be right up there alongside Kirigiri's and Mark's.

"Something they wouldn't notice, huh..." Kirigiri muttered to herself, thinking.

"Or something they did and just didn't care about." Mileena quickly inputted again.

"...Say Mark?"

"Yeah?" He muttered scratching his head.

"Those autopsy reports you got back...did it say if they drank anything?"

"I'm telling you, there wasn't anything in the drinks." He groaned, rolling his eyes. "All the drinks were tested and all the victims' belongings were searched. There wasn't any poison-"

"In the coffee?" Kirigiri interjected, cutting him off and surprising him.

"How did you know they had coffee?" Kirigiri smiled a little to Mileena. Her thoughts were processing some rather interesting revelations.

"You said it yourself, Mileena- about the autopsy reports missing something? I think there might be something to that." Kirigiri gave a small nod in agreement as she stated.

"You really think the Future Foundation was dumb enough to botch up the Autopsies?" Mark groaned again. He trusted their ideas and leadership to a full. It was these kinds of remarks about the Foundation that got him irritated.

"I'm not saying they missed it intentionally," Kirigiri corrected, "but what if it was something so small they ended up missing it themselves?"

"Something small?"

"Sugar." Kirigiri stated bluntly.

There were a few seconds of Mark's expression where it slowly changed into a look of bewilderment, to his eyes widening in shock and realization. The Sugar. Out of all the victims, the one and only thing he knew for sure was that they were all drinking something, and quite ironically, that something ended up being sugar in this case. Whether it was their own sugar or someone slipped it in remained a mystery, but regardless of circumstances, they all had sugar at some point before their death.

Once again, he was flabbergasted by Kirigiri's incisiveness, as well as irritated by it. To be honest, he couldn't' tell if he should be irritated by her or by Mileena, seeing how she's the one who lead up to the topic, but regardless, it still ended with Kirigiri coming out on top at the end of it. Simply by knowing how all three of the victims had coffee, she knew there had to be a common link between all of them, regardless of how small- quite literally in this case.

It would make sense too, now that he thought about it, as to why the autopsy reports wouldn't have picked up on anything. With the technology in today's world, it would be extremely easy to cook up some form of tasteless, in terms of tasting poison that is, Sugar, and slip it by into someone's drink without their knowing. Not only that, but as always, the guards at the Sector security checkpoints always checked firsthand, all the belongings, the details, and just about every single item that a person would bring with them through the Sectors. Much like him, he doubted there was absolutely anyone out there, who would come to think something as bland as sugar would be the untimely cause of three separate murders!

There was only one problem.

"...What's your point?" He eyed her as he crossed his arms. Kirigiri was a little confused by his reply.

"Come again?"

"What does that have to do with the deaths themselves? There's no relationship to the victims, remember?" Kirigiri blinked to herself at this, before letting out a silent "Oh" to herself.

She had to admit, he had a good point. So she figured out what was the cause to the victims' deaths. Point one for her. That still didn't answer any of the other questions they had to go through. It might've helped explain how, whoever the killer was, managed to sneak their "weapon" through security, but it didn't explain much else about this case.

"Yeah, exactly." He continued, perfectly reading the look on her face with a smug grin. "We have two dead members from Sector-2, and this guy in Sector-7. What's the point though?"

"...Hmm..." Kirigiri hummed to herself as she tried to think, sitting on the table near Mileena.

"Did they have any common relatives?" Mileena asked, looking back and forth between the two. "I've seen plenty of Detective and mystery movies where the kids kill their parents for their inheritance or something."

"But none of these people ARE related, Mileena." Mark pointed out, pinching between his eyes in annoyance.

"Oh...sorry..." She muttered, lowering her head with a small frown.

"Then there has to be something else they do that's relatable." Kirigiri spoke again. "If these were just confined to Sector-2, it could easily get passed off as a serial murder to some extent. But if they were only focused on two specific people and this person here, then there had to be a specific reason."

"The Sector-2 victims all work with food if that helps at all." Mileena pointed out.

"And the Sector-7 folk here are just guardsmen. If they wanted to kill the guards themselves, they would've done so in a way that took out more of them at once." Mark added. "Quite frankly, I don't think there's any notable connection between victims this time around."

"...?" Kirigiri processed that last statement he said. "Wait, say that last part again?"

"What? About this time arou-"

"Yeah, that right there." Kirigiri stood up firmly. "What did you mean "this time" around? Did this happen before?" Mark groaned to himself with his hand at his side while scratching his head. If there was another aspect about Kirigiri that he couldn't stand, it was all the questions. Questions like these that relate to the Future Foundation and stuff, it got kind of annoying when he had to explain one more thing each time to her for her to understand.

Especially if it ended up helping her get another case solved over his head.

"W-Well...yeah." He nodded. "It happened a long time ago, right around the time the Future Foundation organized and rescued you guys from that crazy school thing. There was a strange string of murders that occurred like this, which ended in the death of one of the Heads of the Sectors."

"One of the Sector Heads were killed?!" Kirigiri was actually quite amazed. With all the security she's witnessed from the Future Foundation, and all the high-tech security installments scattered throughout the base, for anyone to pull of a murder, ESPECIALLY one who was a leader of anything within the Future Foundation, that couldn't have been any easy feat.

"Like I said, it was some time ago, so don't get it stuck into your head." Mark stated, gesturing his hands in a calming-like motion. "One of the Heads just KO'ed in the middle of a meeting for no apparent reason. It was believed to be poison, but they couldn't find anything. And anyone related to the matter in some way just mysteriously vanished."

"Wouldn't that mean if this was the same case though, that the people who committed the crime would've come back?" Mileena wondered. "That would explain why it took them this long to do anything. Anyone who stumbles upon the Future Foundation and wishes to live through here has to go through a probation or waiting list thing, I don't know the details exactly. But they're mostly ran through a background check from top to bottom before being allowed Sanctuary here."

"...The first two..." Kirigiri mumbled again, the gears in her head suddenly starting to turn. "What exactly were their professions?"

"What those guys? I already told you, they just worked with foods." Mark said again.

"No, I need the **specifics**!" Kirigiri emphasized. "What exactly did they do?" As if to answer her question, Mileena took the opportunity to pull out a little pink handbook that she kept with herself at all times. It was filled with all sorts of various notes and information about any of the cases she was on, just like this.

"Hmm...The first one was a simple chef, Morgan Tonyo...heh, kind of a silly name." She chuckled briefly as she read the details. "It says here he was just a simple food-making chef. He worked with various kinds of foods and servings...and some drinks too..."

Kirigiri eyed her suspiciously. "He made drinks?"

"Yeah, but he didn't serve them directly." Mileena explained, turning the page over. "That was actually the previous victim before now. He always served whatever the main chef did and brought the orders to the destinations."

"And that's what makes this killing so confusing." Mark continued in her stead. "The chefs and all that were one thing, but this guy here had absolutely no relationship to either one. He was just a simple security guard."

"And he...didn't do anything in particular?" Kirigiri asked with a raised brow.

"Not that I know of."

"I have the details on him!" Mileena said with a chirp and a smile. "He managed several security sections through the Main building, Sections B, F, and J."

Like the Sectors within the Future Foundation, the main structures and buildings to the Future Foundation were also labeled with codes. This time around, the titles weren't labeling the sections as specific Operations or based on key details, but these titles were meant to symbolize the importance of each of the following sections.

From A-F, were the first level sections. They always dealt with data transmissions and relay to various parts of the world, ones that were still standing in this time. Section G-N, the secondary levels, dealt with all forms of outside Operations, such as missions, retrieval, and so on. They were also charged with keeping the peace within the Sectors, and the areas outside the Future Foundation under their control.

As for the last Sections, O-Z, they were considered the most important of the 3 sections, and were heavily guarded. Their main tasks were overseeing the various tasks of the other sections, Sectors, just about everything connected to the Future Foundation in one way or another. While it might've sound like a bunch of "behind-the-desk-Workers" type of job, these people actually ensured that the Future Foundation continued to thrive. Without them, chaos would run rampant throughout the sectors and all Foundations under their control, and it would eventually crumble.

"...Wait..." The light bulb suddenly clicked on in Kirigiri's head. There was something keeping her from gathering a full amount of details that she needed, but she couldn't tell what. The fact that she couldn't actually worried her to a small degree. "Lemme see your notebook for a second." Kirigiri instructed. No sooner did Mileena hand over the notebook did she swipe it swiftly out of her hands.

The other two detectives looked back at one another briefly as they watched the Super High School Level Sleuth work her "magic". There was some sort of brainstorm forming inside Kirigiri's head, as the only noises coming from her were the scribbling noises of whatever she was jotting down in her notebook. If it was possible, you think her pencil would've caught on fire from whatever she was writing.

And whatever she was writing, it would have to remain a mystery until she was done again. Every so often, Mark and MIleena would come about to see Kirigiri suddenly jotting down notes and ideas like this after having some spark of realization strike her. During those times, they knew it was best to leave her to her work until she was done, not able to get her attention anyway even if their lives depended on it.

Finally, after what felt like hours, despite the fact it had only been a little under 5 minutes, Kirigiri examined the contents of the journal, displaying it for the others to see on her lap.

"Ok, so if this is correct, let's say this is how the operation went with the last string of murders." Kirigiri began as she tapped the base of her chin with the pencil's eraser.

The other two examined it with bewildered curiosity. It wasn't anything like they had expected to see! What they expected were perhaps various jots and notes of whatever Kirigiir was running through her head, which would end up with the identity of the culprit. Instead, they were greeted with a rough layout of the main building, as well as various checkpoints and markings and sections that were labeled out as A, B, or C.

"What if the murder of the Head of whichever sector was the main goal?" Kirigiri pondered as she crossed it out. "Person A, who was the first victim, was the person in charge of making the food or drinks. Person B, the next victim, was the one in charge of delivering said meals to prevent forcing Person A from doing it and arouse suspicion. At the same time, Person A could do something like disappear or appear somewhere else to arouse suspicion, and draw attention away from Person B further."

"Ok, I see where you're going but what about-" Mark tried to reply. Kirigiri gave a firm pause-like gesture as she held up her hand.

"Continuing on, Person C was someone vital they needed. With the area they were going to, they needed someone else on the inside in order to ensure they could pass off the contents of whatever murdered the Head to begin with." Kirigiri continued, crossing out Person C. "Because of that, they would require three different people to help fill in for those who would miss their job."

"Are you saying the entire point of this was an entire Assassination mission?!" MIleena stammered in surprise.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Mark grumbled to himself on the inside, doing his best not to show it.

Once again, while it still left some details out, he was outdone by Kirigiri of all people. He didn't necessarily _mind_ being shown off by someone else, the problem came in when he was shown off by someone younger than himself. You can imagine the whole insecurity issue someone would have with someone younger outdoes them...

"So that means someone's trying to assassinate another head?" Mileena questioned.

"It's the only thing I can perceive, but..." There was a look of irritation on Kirigiri's face as she rubbed her chin. "I... I just can't figure out WHERE exactly they'll strike. There's too many possibilities out there-"

"And we can't just pause every meeting going on today without either proof or a valid explanation." Mileena stated, having an idea of what was going on.

"Tch, that all? No problem then!" It was possibly the first time Kirigiri had seen Mark grin at all since the day began.

"Why's that?"

"Cause, there's only one meeting going on today." He explained.

"Only o-!"

All at once, the world seemed to slow down for Kirigiri. That one, single, utterance finally explained all the tension and unease she was feeling in her heart. Out of all the things out there, this one, grand, reason, was the sole cause for all her discomfort and unease since the case had began. And it finally gave her the sole reason why she had to fear this outcome.

"Oh shit!" She cursed, already running from the room. The other two did a near-double take at each other before running on after her.

"H-Hey! Kirigiri wait!" Mileena yelled after her.

"Hold up!" Mark shouted after.

Kirigiri paid zero attention to the two. If everything was coming full circle as she expected, which she wished wasn't the case for once, then Naegi's life was indefinitely put into trouble. At this point, she knew no security warnings could be given to the actual guards at the meeting site, nor would she be able to give any message to anyone else she knew. The worse part was, she couldn't just say anything about a murder unless she had concrete proof- considering she didn't have one, the only proof she could expect was to wait until someone ended up dead.

Only problem was it would be Naegi in this case! Like hell if she would wait till her of all people would die first!...Not that she would just wait around for anyone else to die for proof, of course.

Fortunately enough, however, there was at least 1 last person she could count on, if anything, to buy some time. Better yet, she knew that certain "someone" was located on Section-H, where her therapy sessions always took place. It was the only person she could contact at a time like this, seeing how she had a direct connection with her at almost all times.

Messing with the earpiece she had for a few seconds, she tweaked it around until she could get a signal through to the girl on the other line.

"Hello?" Ikusaba's voice came up.

"Ikusaba!" Kirigiri said firmly as she continued to run. It was still a good ways from the outside where she was to the main building itself- she needed a good chunk of time to get to Naegi in time.

"Hey Kirigiri, what's-" Ikusaba began to ask in a perky tone.

"Ikusaba, I need you to listen!" Kirigiri spoke in a firm tone, implying the seriousness of this matter. "Naegi's life is in danger, got that? Someone is going to execute her at today's Meeting on Section-J!"

There was silence on the other line, save for Ikusaba's shallow breathing. Even if she was warning Ikusaba about Naegi, she needed to be careful how much she worded her speech. It would be one thing if Ikusaba bolted immediately into action, but it would be something else entirely if she had another mental breakdown and cause "Another Episode" (get iiiit, geeet iiiiit :P...oh you guy's aren't fun X( ) like what happened down at the Sector-8 prison.

"What...Are you su-" Ikusaba mumbled, her voice already creaking.

"Ikusaba, listen- I'm on my way to the complex, but I'm barely at the first floor already. I need you to get to Naegi right now!"

"B-But how can-" Kirigiri could already tell what she was trying to ask. The natural response to a well-fortified complex like this was "how would they plan to kill someone"?

"She's going to be poisoned, Ikusaba!" Kirigiri interrupted again. "Don't let her drink anything until I get there!"

With that, she immediately hung up. She had so much more to say, but not enough time to stand or sit around and explain it all. All she could do to speed up time, was to immediately end the transmission, in the hopes Ikusaba would get off her feet and hurry on up there.

...

And her hope was not put to waste. Whatever the case may be, numerous events met Kirigiri along the way to the Section-J. For starters, she heard a security alarm going off. Part of her was worried that it might've been an alert that would detail some sudden corpse or murder occurring, fearing greatly for Naegi's life. Luckily, only by a small amount, it turned out to be come alarm about some "crazy/dangerous target running through the complex", warning all staff on the first levels to evacuate the complex. The warning wouldn't be sent to anyone through the 2nd-level Sections, out of fear for their safety with everyone running through the halls.

This "crazy girl", was no one else but Ikusaba. Kirigiri rolled her eyes at times like these, having at least several accounts of when this event would occur. It wasn't anything she could control, mind you. This warning was an automated response hooked up to her chest piece. It was bound to go off any time it reached the second level of her stress, meaning she reached her 2nd Phase in terms of "Despair/Stress". Sometimes these would activate during the Therapy Sessions she had, causing a bit of unnecessary panic among anyone within the floors.

It was also a little funny to her, but she never told anyone out loud.

Along the way, nearing up to the H-Section after several minutes, Kirigiri noticed the remains of fellow security guards that Ikusaba attacked. Perhaps saying "attacked" was the wrong way to phase it. They were only subduced to an extent where they couldn't chase anyone or fight back for the time being. Kirigiri wasn't surprised, but it must've happened while Ikusaba was on the run to Naegi.

Like Kirigiri herself, she wouldn't let anyone dare harm her beloved Naegi. Provided that she could subdue anyone without any harsh injuries, but it was to be expected if Ikusaba was already in a panicked state. For the most part, all those subdued were simply knocked out cold or groaning on the floor. It would take some time to explain the reasoning behind everything but for now, Naegi, as always, came first.

Finally after ten full minutes of running, leaving the poor girl exhausted deeply, all the while seeming to have lost track of Mileena and Mark, she finally made it to Section-J; the 28th floor of the complex. Perhaps she made it just in time too, because the next thing she knew, there was gunfire going off.

*****_**Bang!***_

The suddenness of it was enough to make Kirigiri's heart skip a beat, fearing the worst.

"N-Naegi..." She muttered in fear, pulling herself across the hallway as she stuck near the wall. Her fears were just as quickly dashed away though as she heard shouting.

"STAY BACK NAEGI!" Ikusaba shouted angrily through the doorway. It gave Kirigiri some relief of what was going on, and more distress after discovering the scene.

Upon entering the room, she was greeted by a peculiar sight: There Ikusaba was, with one pistol pressed between the eyes of whoever her target was, all in the center of a destroyed holo-projector. It wasn't the most surprising sight, and it was more or less expected that something could be destroyed if Ikusaba was getting involved.

The part that did put her slightly on edge was the sight of the six guards surrounding her. Knowing Ikusaba would've forced herself to keep a level-headed sense at all times, she obviously wouldn't have killed anyone along the way up here. At the same time, that meant everyone that had chased her all the way up here were now ready to possibly dislodge a bullet into her skull if she tried anything funny, and that was regardless of whether or not Naegi begged them not to. As much as they hated it, they wouldn't listen to the Ultimate Hope several feet away from them.

But she was a different story.

"WAIT!" Kirigiri shouted demandingly. Everyone's attention, save for Ikusaba's who was still shaking as she pinned the man down, turned to her as she spoke.

"Kirigiri?" Naegi questioned.

"Hold...Hold your fire..." Kirigiri panted, exhausted. "Ikusaba is innocent! She didn't do anything wrong..."

...

...

...

That was how the day played out amongst three separate girls. In the aftermath that followed, numerous cases and situations were explained to those who've gathered.

First off, several of the staff, who were secretly working undercover, were arrested and put until heavy surveillance, while surviving an obvious life sentence down in the Sector-8 Maximum security prison. Not only were the Chef who made the tea, the servant who brought it, and the security guard who allowed him into the meeting room arrested on spot, several more staff were brought in for questioning and for background checks of their history up to this event within the last several weeks.

In addition, several more unexpected staff members also appeared to be double-agents, working undercover as they were. Dr. Torrose, naturally, was one of them. It turned out Ms. Eleanor was found dead several hours after the incident, her body being discovered in a Janitorial closet. Torrose, turned out, was tasked with making sure Ikusaba was kept at bay while the assassination plot was being carried at hand. Naegi, as the Ultimate Hope to the world, was their true target at that time, as well as several other staff members throughout the complex that day.

Fortunately, because the plot itself was brought down, those orders were scrapped, saving other lives who were intended for assassination. While the details of exactly how many were put into jeopardy, it was safe to say that a good handful of key folk were saved by Kirigiri, as well as Ikusaba in some other manner of speaking.

Along with this, Ikusaba was, naturally, given a full pardon on her assaults on about twenty different guards who she attacked, several of which she broke the arms or legs to, seeing how she rescued an important figurehead to the Future Foundation. While this didn't excuse her for running rampant to begin with, they decided to Overlook it, seeing how much the girl had been going through for her stress, and everything she's put up with up to that point. It was a miracle at all, and a good sign of improvement, that she didn't succumb to her own despair while working towards saving Naegi.

And because of all these happenings, things were just about to get a little better for three particular girls...

"Woohoo! No school!" Ikusaba cheered on the couch, clothed in her long light-pink night shirt that stretched down to her knees.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? We don't even have school." Kirigiri questioned as she brought over the popcorn. Like Ikusaba, she was dressed in long clothing, this one consisting of a somewhat-transparent pink nightie.

"Just an expression." Ikusaba said with a grin, leaning relaxingly on the couch. "Because of all that happened, we have a total staff recall! No work for the next week! No more boring meetings or therapy sessions, and no more horrible torture from work."

"You would know a lot about horrible torture, wouldn't you?" Kirigiri teased with a small smirk, sitting on the right side of the couch. Ikusaba just gave her a smug, playful, look. Having set aside their differences for so long, and finally having the time to bond between one another while bonding with Naegi, they've gotten used to one another. Simple things like Kirigiri's crude joke no longer seemed to phase Ikusaba, even though she knew she was being smug about it.

"Heh, heh, heh, aren't you funny..." She spoke in a goofy tone.

"It would give us some time to finally hang out for awhile." Naegi spoke walking in with a tray of pop-filled glasses. Like the other two, she was dressed as if ready for bed, wearing her casual pink night shirt and pants. Even though it was only 4 in the afternoon, the girls planned on relaxing as much as they could for their week off. The other two smiled as she made her way to the middle of the couch, planting herself right between the two.

"Y'all ready for a movie-marathon?" Ikusaba asked excitedly as she grabbed the remote.

"Movie's already popped in and everything." Kirigiri added.

"Hmhm..." Naegi just gave a small chuckle as she smiled to the two, looking at them sincerely right after. "I want to thank you two again for what you did...you saved my life."

Both girls smiled at Naegi, not that they weren't whenever she's around. Her joy, her acceptance of them, her happiness, those were the only thing that ever meant anything to them in this world these days. With the tragedy that befell the world, she was their little "hope" nowadays, and they cherished every moment they could finally have with one another.

"You don't have to thank us Naegi." Ikusaba insisted. "Just because it's the 17th assassination attempt on your life, doesn't mean it's any different."

Queue the awkward sweat-dropping-moment.

"Ehhh...t-that's reassuring...I think..."

"Look, really, you don't have to worry about a thing." Kirigiri insisted. Naegi couldn't help but blink in surprise as the two leaned in closer to her face from both ends. "We always promise to be there for you and to protect you.

"We love you, Naegi."

_*shmck*_

_*shmck*_

There was a long meaningful pause as Naegi's face turned bright red. Whether through the fact they were all the same gender, or the simple act of them doing it, nothing could prevent the immense deep-red blush that filled Naegi's face as both Ikusaba and Kirigiri kissed her on her respective cheeks. No matter how many times she went through it, no matter how much she knew they both loved her, she couldn't go through any embarrassing or awkward bits like these without simply blushing. It made her feel awkward, for obvious reasons, and she'd prefer keeping these things on a low profile at all times.

...Yet, it was through these acts of heroism, the simple acts that she constantly had her life saved because of these two, that always reminded her why they meant so much to her. And they didn't ask for any reward in the end of it all, except for one measly thing. Naegi couldn't help but give a soft, still-blushing, smile to the two as she got comfortable in the couch.

"Y-Yeah...I love you girls too..."

...

...

...

A/N: HARUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OM SWEET FREAKING MONEY HOLY HANA ALACABANA MECHA MECHA HIDEY HO SWEET FREAKING FEJEBUS MONKEY ON A PLANE MONKEY JESUS! That was THE LONGEST chapter I've EVER POSTED T_TT_T_T_TT_T_T_T_T!

Part of the reason, for my rather lengthy post, is to apologize for the delay. I missed my "regular deadline" by a SINGLE DAY X* What is wrong with me?!...on second thought, I'm not apologizing XP I worked hard and diligently for this bonus chapter, and the extra length/size should more than enough make up for the 1-day-delay ^^

HUUUUUUUUFTA! Seriously people- CUT ME SOME SLACK! In fact, for those nay-sayers out there who complain about this sorta thing, find me ANYONE out there, who's posted 20K+ WORDS IN LESS THAN 8 DAYS IN A SINGLE CHP, THEN WE'll TALK!

Lol, seriously though, thanks for the constant support as always ^^ Other reason for this delay and length, is due to an unfortunate announcement: I GOT A JOB X*(! What the heck was I thinking?! Now I have a job, I might get even MORE delays X! GAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I'm sorry I'm sorry X! It's toally blasphemous I know X(!

Then again 1-day-longer isn't too bad, and when you think about it, I got about 2 chps worth of posting in 1 chp, so that kinda makes up more than 1 chp a week ^^ Technicalities aside ,this was a bonus chapter for **chaosrin** who wanted a sorta "Day in their life" sorta ordeal ^^ I hope you liked it ^^!...cause if you don't...eh heh...if you don't like this...this thing I've worked to the bone for the last 8 FREAKING DAYS T_T...GAAAAAAHODSJgDOP)JHGDIGJSOIGJDSGOIDJGOJSDGJDSOF!

I will be sad and angry.

jk XP

lol, hope you all enjoyed ^^ expect main plot updates next week (lets see if me saying it'll come in a longer update-date makes me post faster actually, shall we XP?)


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